Powerful Passwords

PC Magazine article on powerful passwords

Most PCs and lots of personal data, such as bank records and Web mail access, are guarded only by a username and password. Usernames are fairly easy to guess and often pre-filled in, so you need to make sure your passwords are strong—not easily guessed or cracked by "dictionary" attacks that throw millions of letter combinations at the dialog. Many of the most widespread Internet worms have built-in dictionaries of common passwords, and once they are running on your system, they can attack your computer and others on your network.

Note that not every security system lets you use passwords this long, or even ones that have embedded spaces. Some e-commerce sites, for example, will allow you only 8- to 12-character alphanumeric passwords. But, since Windows 2000, Windows has allowed passphrases with up to 127 characters.


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