Strong and Memorable: Creating good passwords

In today's digital word we have passwords for everything personal and work related - email, social networking sites, computer logins, online banking, computer programs, subscription services, online shopping accounts, and on, and on.

But, there's no point in having a password if it's not strong enough to keep other people out. It's also pointless to have a password that's so difficult to remember that you get frustrated and have to reset it frequently. Here are some simple tips that keep your passwords strong, but memorable:

• Substitute numbers or characters for letters and vice versa (the letter O instead of a zero, a $ instead of an S, @ for A, 8 for B)
• Substitute words for numbers (one, thirteen, nineteen)
• Use capitalization in random places (buCkLe, HAmmER)
• Use special characters (!@#$%^&*<>+) to punctuate and separate words
• Create passwords out of a phrase you'll remember
• Misspell words

Some examples of how to implement this:
    "1956" becomes "9teen56"
    "Robert" becomes "#robERt#"
    "867-5309" becomes "8xis753o9"
    "I love Jill" becomes "eYelove3Jill" 

It's easy to create something memorable from the important things to us - birthdates, anniversaries, your pet's name, favorite sports team or vacation spot. It's ok to use them IF you make them more secure by using the techniques outlined above. Otherwise they become easy to guess and less secure.

Although it's tempting, don't use the same password for everything. This can be dangerous - if someone gets hold of your password, they can access more than you bargained for. Solution: use something relative to what you're creating the password for. A password for your favorite shopping site could be eYeluv2sh0p!

Don't write passwords down where someone can easily access them like on a post-it next to the computer or in a Rolodex. If you must share a password with someone be sure to change it as soon as possible. In most cases you will be liable for transactions they conduct, even if they do them without your permission. According to recent statistics, almost half of identity theft and fraud victims know the person who stole their information.