Passwords Keep Your Information Secure

Online Lives need Good Locks “A password is like a toothbrush: Choose a good one and don’t share it.”

Choosing a Password It should be easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess – A celebrity’s birthday – The date of your high school prom – The street where you used to live – Your Grandma’s old phone number

Choosing a Password Avoid using a complete word from a dictionary – Try enclopedia, not encyclopedia – Fotball not football

Choosing a Password Use at least 7 characters – harder for somebody to guess – A simple, longer password could be easier than something short but complicated – “JHHSbeatStarvalley” might be easier to remember than J*&a2

Don’t Make It Easy Don’t use your screenname as your password Or your dog’s name Or your school, family name, etc. Don’t use words or phrases that have personal significance that someone could guess (your middle name, your dog, your town, the name of your school, “ILoveJoey,” etc.

Mix It Up Mix letters, numbers and symbols and use case sensitivity (UpP*er7 and lO3wer?cAse) My!nAme*45

Vary Your Passwords Don’t use the same password for everything – Try having one super-secure password for things like banking and online purchasing, and one other for less sensitive sites If you have a lot of passwords, you can buy a password management program to help you keep them straight

Passwords to avoid password qwerty abc123 Letmein Blink182 Your First Name

Keep it private! Don’t share your password with anyone (except perhaps your parents) – Once you “let it out” you can ‘t control what other people will do with your password Don’t give your password out in an (phishing) –it’s a fraud – Don’t fall for scams Be careful when you use a public computer – always log out so someone else can’t use your password

Why worry? Someone could impersonate you and do something illegal Someone could change your account information (bank account, cell phone account, etc.) Someone could charge things to your bank account or credit card number

Sources and More Information Wikihow: How to Choose a Secure Password: 10 steps – Instructables.com e_a_Good_Password_A_few_quick_tips_on/ e_a_Good_Password_A_few_quick_tips_on/ Yahoo’s Security Center