Here are some tips for creating strong passwords (and User IDs as well!):
- An ideal password is long and has a variety of letters, punctuation, numbers and symbols.
- Variety is key - the greater the variety of characters in your password, the better.
- Consider using a phrase instead of a password. It's easier to remember a long phrase than a random password. To create a passphrase, start with a sentence or two, turn your sentence into a row of letters, add complexity, length with numbers, punctuation and symbols.
- If you need to write a password down, don't include the User ID or location where you use it.
- Avoid using words related to the season (fall, summer, winter, etc) or dates
- Never use your name, birthday, driver's license, social security number, passport number or other personal information as your password.
- Avoid using sequences or repeated characters such as 123456, abcdef or adjacent letters on a keyboard such as qwerty.