


Next, lets pepper our password base with a few random characters to keep things interesting that we have our base password, were going to memorize and use it as a skeleton key that will unlock our account on any Website as long as we hold fast to a few simple rules. Now that weve picked a passphrase, we need to mash that phrase into a single string (chickenadobo), and then sprinkle in a few capital letters that are simple to remember (ChickenAdobo). Go for a passphrase - multiple words strung together - rather than a password this makes it harder for hackers working to crack your password by trying every word in the dictionary. You should also avoid picking a single word and changing some of its characters to symbols - hacker tools are sophisticated enough to overcome that trick. Make sure your passphrase is at least eight characters and avoid obviously memorable topics like proper names, birthdays, and hometowns. For simplicitys sake Im going to use one of my favorite dishes, chicken adobo, as our example. Pick a phrase that will be easy to remember, and feel free to be as creative as you like. First, we need a password "base" with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and even a symbol or two to spice things up. Its fairly easy to create strong, unique passwords by following a few simple rules. That may be beyond our grasp, but you can get awfully close by using a few simple mnemonic tricks. The perfect password is one you never write down - a unique string of letters, numbers, and symbols that not even you know until the moment you enter it. Using a password manager is a great way to improve your personal security online, but its not perfect. LastPass also has a handy plugin for every browser. A multi-platform password manager with browser support, such as LastPass, is even easier to use because it automatically syncs between different computers and browsers, giving you access to your encrypted database from any device, though you do sacrifice the security of keeping your password list confined to a single hard drive. KeePass is a free program that keeps your passwords secure in an encrypted database.Ī few great password management programs like KeePass will store all of your passwords in one encrypted database and let you access them with one master password, so you can carry every password youll ever need on a single thumb drive.
