How to Create a Secure Password

If you're like me, your passwords are (were) really easy to crack. After I received an email from yet another company telling me their customer data was compromised, I realized that I really needed to work harder on my security. While I know that random patterns are the most secure, I often have trouble remembering them. It is possible to create a more secure password just by substituting symbols and numbers for letters or creating a mnemonic for a sentence you'll remember.

Here are some examples of making a simple password more secure, but don't actually use these:

• password = p@s$w0rD or p@$Sw0Rd
• makingcentsofit = m@k!ngCent$0f1t

As you can see, I can still remember a word as my password but through substitution, it will not be as easy for someone to hack.

Never Use the Following as a Password

• your address
• pet's name
• birthday/anniversary/other important date
• the same password for multiple sites (hack one and they all go down)