Changing Passwords? Here is How to create strong passwords

“The Heartbleed scare … is a reminder of the importance of password hygiene. Changing passwords occasionally is a good idea, as is using a different password for each site. If passwords are lost because of a security breach at a company, identity thieves have a far greater opportunity for mischief.”

These are sound words of advice from the New York Times Bits blog regarding common password mistakes. Avoiding these paves a strong path to security.

Avoid these common mistakes to create strong passwords

• Common words like names or the ‘password’
• Tricky, common character substitutions, like ‘p@55w0rd’
• Sequences, like ‘123456’ or ‘abcdef’
• Neighboring keystrokes like ‘qwerty’
• Repeated characters, like ‘aaaaaaa’
• Complete dates, like ‘01261987’. Especially avoid using birth dates.

Sounds complicated? Get a secure password manager app!

We recommend LastPass or KeePass. Let us know if you have another favorite password manager app in the comment section. In the meanwhile keep up the good vibe and stay secure!