The CW Corner – Passwords

In keeping with the basics, a common issue we see at CharlesWorks involving our web clients in general has to do with passwords.

A trick to remember with passwords is to keep them simple yet complex and different enough so they aren’t easily guessed. A very good way to have a secure password is to use words or combinations of words that mean something to you but not anyone else. It’s also more secure if you use a capital letter where one would not normally be expected. Here’s an example of making a typical word into a secure word just by changing which Letters within the word are capitalized:
PeteRborOugh

Or you could go a step further by using numbers in place of some of the letters so you have both numbers and capital letters:
Pet8Rbor0ugh

To really beef up security, in this example we’ll make it 2 words separated by a hyphen or a number:
hEll064bYe

Using a couple words in this manner will pass the security requirements for many systems. You can use a couple words that you can remember and therefore don’t have to write down anywhere.

Needless to say, post-its on your monitor should be avoided. Hopefully this CharlesWorks tip will help get you away from that habit!