10 Tips for better password protection

Passwords must protect sensitive financial, business and personal information. They're the key to get access to protected websites. And since the growing popularity of online banking it becomes increasingly important to protect your valuable data on the internet. It asks no great imagination to understand what can happen when someone discovers your passwords.

1.It seems obvious, but don't use any easy to guess passwords like your birth date or the names of your partner or pet. You'd better use passwords that can't be linked to your private life. You need a password that's not easy to guess, but is easy to remember for yourself.

2. Use a combination of small and capital characters and symbols or figures to make it harder to guess the password. Keep in mind that some websites don't allow the use of symbols. Most websites use case sensitive passwords so it's better to use them.

3. Make sure your password is longer than 8 characters. The longer the password, the harder it is to guess it.

4. Another open door. Use different passwords for different programs and websites. If your password falls into the wrong hands at least some accounts or websites are still protected.

5. Change your passwords on a regular basis. Even when this is not asked by the website. Once a year is recommended.

6. Don't write down passwords. You never know who searches drawers or somewhere else. Also don't save your passwords in your PDA or mobile phone. That's just as unsafe as a piece of paper. What you can do is save your passwords encrypted on a USB stick (see the free). There are password managers too that encrypt the files. On a USB stick we also use a program that hides the file content. Double the safety that way!

7. Never share a password with someone else. If you must do it, change it afterwards.

8. Never use words that are in the dictionary. Password cracking software exists that searches these words to crack a password. We found the following tip that helps you create a password and remember it easily. Suppose you're travelling by train everyday to work. You think about the following "password sentence": "Everyday I take the 9.45 train". You then take the first character of each word plus the figures. Your password then is: eitt945. You can also choose to switch between small and capital characters: EiTt945. It's easy to memorise the "password sentence".

9. Ofcourse you must never use a password like "password" or "nopassword". Even not "PassworD"!

10. And last but not least: when you receive an email or telephone call from someone supposedly from the bank, creditcard firm or PayPal who asks for your password or PIN code. Never ever give those free! These are swindlers!

BD/EB