P@$$w0rd$

[fati 0]

P@$$W0RD$

Email addresses, messengers, network logins: they're all protected with passwords, but the fact that we have a password isn't enough to protect. It's the 'kind' of passwords that we choose which actually decides how protected our systems are.

Here are the don'ts that you should keep in mind while creating a password:

Don't use names of people, places, pets etc. These are the most obvious choices and are the first options someone will check to find a match and it often works. Also, don't use your phone number, birth date or any other obvious personal detail as your password.

Don't use a word from the dictionary. The most common password cracking method is the 'dictionary attack' and involves trying the words from dictionaries, not only the English dictionary but from many other languages too, to see if any word is accepted as the password.

Don't use a combination of words either. If, when cracking a password, words direct from the dictionary don't yield a results then combinations and hybrids of words are used next.

Don't use popular names/titles/words/phrases from books/movies/songs.

Don't make a password that consists of either all numbers or all alphabets. Passwords that consist of a word followed by a number are also very easy to crack. Instead of this approach, you should try using both alphabets and numbers and alternating between the two. Additionally, try to use both upper and lower case characters and try to use as many characters as possible.

Here are some methods that you can try for making easy to remember but difficult to crack passwords:

Pick a phrase that you can remember easily. It can be some lyrics from a song, a movie tagline, an idiom, something off a bumper sticker...absolutely anything as long as you can remember it easily. Let's use 'Polly wants a cracker' as an example. Now pick a number you can remember easily, like your date of birth, say '25/05'. Interlace the first character of the phrase with the number. In our example, if you're alternating after one character, the password becomes 'p2w5a0c5' and '2pw50ac5' if you start with a number and alternate after two characters.

Pick a phrase and kick out some of the vowels. For instance, 'To kill a mockingbird' becomes 'tkllmockngbrd'. Now add some numbers. You can delete a character at the place where you insert the number, like 'tkl2mockn5brd'.

Use net lingo. Everyone uses stuff like GR8 and 2morrow in emails and chat messages. You can simply use them in your password. Strings like 'GR8ness' and 'L8R2day' may be used as they contain both numbers and alphabets and also use both upper and lower case characters. Better still, get creative and make some of your own!

Pick a word or a resulting phrase from any of the previous three methods. Now replace characters with substitutes like '@' or '$'. For example, 'password' becomes 'p@$$w0rd'. Or just add characters to a string (without the replacement). Taking 'popcorn' and adding different characters and numbers gives us 'p$Pc,r6n'.

Choosing a password using any of these methods will make your password safer but every password can be cracked...eventually. So change your password frequently (say at least once a month) and try not to use the same password for more than one account.

"We proposed some solutions to stop receiving unwanted messages. In the next 18 months, spam will no longer be a serious problem," Gates told a forum of Arab government representatives in the Egyptian capital.

Spam accounted for nearly two-thirds of all email traffic in December, a record high, US-British filter firm MessageLabs said earlier this month.

__________

i wish i had acted on this b4

[NaDaN 0]

Fati good Job!.. but no worries Act now!.. Good tricks!

[sensetive 0]

THANX FATI FOR NICE TRICKS

[fati 0]

ya planning to do so..... memorizing these passwords is a tough job :)

[Asim 0]

thank you fati.. for posting this super topic... its the need of the hours for many Pakistaniz on the net.

hey do u mind if I publish this topic with your name somewhere else?

waiting 4 ur reply....

[fati 0]

thnx a lot asim.. but nooooooo .. coz i only shared this topic with u guys coz i thought its worth sharing. this is already a published topic of a magazine.. its just my contribution here

[Dr.Hello 0]

P@$$W0RD$

Email addresses, messengers, network logins: they're all protected with passwords, but the fact that we have a password isn't enough to protect. It's the 'kind' of passwords that we choose which actually decides how protected our systems are.

Here are the don'ts that you should keep in mind while creating a password:

Don't use names of people, places, pets etc. These are the most obvious choices and are the first options someone will check to find a match and it often works. Also, don't use your phone number, birth date or any other obvious personal detail as your password.

Don't use a word from the dictionary. The most common password cracking method is the 'dictionary attack' and involves trying the words from dictionaries, not only the English dictionary but from many other languages too, to see if any word is accepted as the password.

Don't use a combination of words either. If, when cracking a password, words direct from the dictionary don't yield a results then combinations and hybrids of words are used next.

Don't use popular names/titles/words/phrases from books/movies/songs.

Don't make a password that consists of either all numbers or all alphabets. Passwords that consist of a word followed by a number are also very easy to crack. Instead of this approach, you should try using both alphabets and numbers and alternating between the two. Additionally, try to use both upper and lower case characters and try to use as many characters as possible.

Here are some methods that you can try for making easy to remember but difficult to crack passwords:

Pick a phrase that you can remember easily. It can be some lyrics from a song, a movie tagline, an idiom, something off a bumper sticker...absolutely anything as long as you can remember it easily. Let's use 'Polly wants a cracker' as an example. Now pick a number you can remember easily, like your date of birth, say '25/05'. Interlace the first character of the phrase with the number. In our example, if you're alternating after one character, the password becomes 'p2w5a0c5' and '2pw50ac5' if you start with a number and alternate after two characters.

Pick a phrase and kick out some of the vowels. For instance, 'To kill a mockingbird' becomes 'tkllmockngbrd'. Now add some numbers. You can delete a character at the place where you insert the number, like 'tkl2mockn5brd'.

Use net lingo. Everyone uses stuff like GR8 and 2morrow in emails and chat messages. You can simply use them in your password. Strings like 'GR8ness' and 'L8R2day' may be used as they contain both numbers and alphabets and also use both upper and lower case characters. Better still, get creative and make some of your own!

Pick a word or a resulting phrase from any of the previous three methods. Now replace characters with substitutes like '@' or '$'. For example, 'password' becomes 'p@$$w0rd'. Or just add characters to a string (without the replacement). Taking 'popcorn' and adding different characters and numbers gives us 'p$Pc,r6n'.

Choosing a password using any of these methods will make your password safer but every password can be cracked...eventually. So change your password frequently (say at least once a month) and try not to use the same password for more than one account.

"We proposed some solutions to stop receiving unwanted messages. In the next 18 months, spam will no longer be a serious problem," Gates told a forum of Arab government representatives in the Egyptian capital.

Spam accounted for nearly two-thirds of all email traffic in December, a record high, US-British filter firm MessageLabs said earlier this month.

__________

i wish i had acted on this b4

iss say tu acha thaa aap likti kay password hi na rakho.

[fati 0]

dr hello.. samajhnay waloun ke liya ishara hi kafi hota hai

[Kiran 2]

wow fati nice topic.... infact informative

[Farah 0]

FATI

NICE N IMFORMATIVE POST...

WELL DONE...

[jayzee 0]

nice n informative post.

[koolsensation 0]

hmm great info i will sure keep a track of it

[brown_eyes 0]

Asalam o Walaikum guyz and galz...

very nice Fati nice topic

Brown - Coolboy

[munnibhai 0]

Fati:

Plz do not mind.... u have shown us a way to be secure... but can u tell me what about the hacking which is being done through softwares. like seizer files.... ? (they have been blocked by Hotmail now) but i still have some other sofwares like this. what about those?