7 ways to create stronger better passwords

This week's news that a Russian
crime ring has amassed some 1.2 billion
username and password combinations makes
now a good time to review ways to protect
yourself online.
The hacking misdeeds were described in a New
York Times story based on the findings of
Hold Security, a Milwaukee firm that has a
history of uncovering online security breaches.
Hold Security, called the data "the largest
known collection of stolen internet
credentials". Hold's researchers did not
identify the origins of the data or name the
victim websites, citing nondisclosure
agreements. The company also said it didn't
want to name companies whose websites are
still vulnerable to hacking, according to the
Times report.
Hold Security didn't immediately respond to
inquiries from The Associated Press.
If there's reason to believe any of your
passwords might have been compromised,
change them immediately. One of the best
things you can do is to make sure your
passwords are strong.
Here are seven ways to fortify them:
- Make your password long. The recommended
minimum is eight characters, but 14 is better
and 25 is even better than that. Some services
have character limits on passwords, though.
- Use combinations of letters and numbers,
upper and lower case and symbols such as the
exclamation mark. Some services won't let you
do all of that, but try to vary it as much as
you can. "PaSsWoRd!43" is far better than
"password43."
- Avoid words that are in dictionaries, even if
you add numbers and symbols. There are
programs that can crack passwords by going
through databases of known words.
One trick is to add numbers in the middle of a
word - as in "pas123swor456d" instead of
"password123456". Another is to think of a
sentence and use just the first letter of each
word - as in "tqbfjotld" for "the quick brown
fox jumps over the lazy dog".
- Substitute characters. For instance, use the
number zero instead of the letter O, or replace
the S with a dollar sign.
- Avoid easy-to-guess words, even if they
aren't in the dictionary. You shouldn't use
your name, company name or hometown, for
instance. Avoid pets and relatives' names, too.
Likewise, avoid things that can be looked up,
such as your birthday or ZIP code. But you
might use that as part of a complex password.
Try reversing your ZIP code or phone number
and insert that into a string of letters. As a
reminder, you should also avoid "password" as
the password, or consecutive keys on the
keyboard, such as "1234" or "qwerty".
- Never reuse passwords on other accounts -
with except when they don't allow access to
credit card or financial information. The
other exception is to log in using a centralised
sign-on service such as Facebook Connect.
- Some services such as Gmail even give you
the option of using two passwords when you use
a particular computer or device for the first
time.
If you have that feature turned on, the
service will send a text message with a six-
digit code to your phone when you try to use
Gmail from an unrecognised device. You'll
need to enter that for access, and then the
code expires.
It's optional, and it's a pain - but it could
save you from grief later on. Hackers won't be
able to access the account without possessing
your phone. Turn it on by going to the
account's security settings.