When selecting a password the main objective is to choose a password that would be theoretically impossible for a hacker to guess. Every username and password combination represents an identity that you have. If someone obtains your username and password they could easily masquerade themselves as you. Identity theft has become a very large problem and choosing a secure password is one step that you should take to protect yourself in this cyber-land of phishers and hackers. By choosing a secure password it would take a computer hundreds and even thousands of years to guess your password by trying every combination. Below are three steps that every user should take when selecting a password.

1. Develop the right mindset.

You must assume that a hacker knows everything about you when selecting your password. The increasing popularity of the internet in business and personal computing leads to more and more of your personal information being readily available on the Internet. You want to choose a password that your friends, family, co-workers, and even your spouse cannot feasibly guess. Below are some examples of personal information that you should not use when selecting your password:

• Children’s Names, Pet’s Names, Names of any kind
• Birth Dates, Anniversary Dates, Dates of any kind
• Username, Your password should not be derived from your username in any way (spelled backwards etc..)
• Driver’s License #, Social Security #, License Plate #, Personal ID of any kind
• Automobile Make or Model
• Street Address, Zip Code, Apartment #

These are just a few examples of information a hacker may use to try to guess your password. And if you think they cannot easily obtain that information, think again. The goal is to select a password that cannot be guessed based on personal information that is common knowledge.

2. Understand the characteristics of a secure password.

In order to select a good password you must understand what characteristics a good password should have. At this point you know that it should not be derived from any personal information. Now, you must choose a password that follows these rules:

• Alphanumeric (containing letters and numbers)
• more than 6 digits if permitted, the more the better
• contains special characters and punctuation if permitted, shift keys
• contains lowercase and uppercase letters
• do not use repeating letters or numbers

3. Choose a secure password that is easy to remember.

Choosing a secure password that is easy to remember can be very difficult. There are several methods that you can use to help you in the selection process. A few of these methods are as follows:

Method 1:Select a sentence, favorite quote, or excerpt from a story, play or poem. Now we will use the numbers, first letter of each word, and then punctuation to create our password.

1 fry short of a Happy Meal! = 1fsoaHM!
To be, or not to be? = Tb,orntb?

Method 2:Select words that have a common letter and join them. One word should end with the same letter that the other word begins with.

12 String guitar = 12Stringuitar
2 Red dogs = 2Redogs

Method 3:Select a word or words and perform a Simple Substitution Cipher. This works with both numbers and letters. If your are performing an alphabetic letter shift of 1 on letters then you simply replace each letter with the letter that comes 1 place before it in the alphabet (ex. B would now equal A). If you're performing a numeric shift of 1 on numbers then you replace the number with the number that comes before it on the number scale (ex. 3 would now equal 2).

12String = 01Rsqhmf
Blue42 = Aktd31

The nice thing about a simple shift cipher is that you can continue to use it over and over again. Many password policies require you to change your password regularly. With simple shifting, you can simply shift your password again for a new secure password.

In conclusion, if you will keep these steps in mind when selecting a password you will be one step closer to protecting yourself from identity theft.