An Introduction to Password Security

Just a few years ago, when online, you might have had just one password to remember for your email address. These days however, it’s not unusual to have 20 or 30 passwords for innumerous internet services that you’re a customer of. And you can guess what happens : Lots of individuals tend to utilize the same password over and over. Some people may not think their Twitter account as being hugely important, but it is if you’re using the same password for that as you are for your PayPal account. Sure, it’s easier to only have to remember just one password, but what if an individual gets hold of that one password? You guessed it, they in theory have their mitts on all of your accounts that share that very same password. And if you think they can’t know what other online services you’ve joined, they simply don’t need to. They can run programs which examine literally thousands of services and try to match your username/password pair that they already have.

This is a problem we all have to address, but it can be solved. Actually, it’s not essential to store each and every account name/password. Let your browser do it. Be it your Bebo Login or Email password. Ask your web browser to remember each username/password, and then setup a master password just in case an intruder else gets physical access to your computer. If they do have such access, they must enter the master password to login to any of your services. In other words, you can sign up to dozens of online services, and just have to remember one single password : your master password for your web browser.

Regarding passwords themselves, make them random and long, such as X4563Jde34 which is a mix of numbers, lower and upper case characters. Since you don’t need to remember them yourself, be as obscure as you wish. A word of warning : don’t use normal words as a password, as these are simple to identify for 3rd parties.

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