How Secure is Your Password?

If our readers can recollect, we had shared a blog post sometime last year on the common password mistakes people make, and how you can create strong passwords. Well, this post is to see whether our readers have followedour tips.

is you password strong

We will be sharing with you all a tool which will give you an idea about how strong your password is. It will also tell you how many days/years it would take for a hacker to crack your password. But before we come to that, let’s revisit some of the important Dos and Don’ts on creating strong, invincible passwords. And here they are:

The Do’s
1. Make your password at least 8 characters long.
2. Have a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters in it.
3. Use special characters.
4. Your password should also contain numbers.
5. Have a unique password for every account on the Internet.

The Don’ts
1. Never use your name, pet’s name, date of birth, street name, etc., as your password.
2. Never use the same password for different online accounts.
3. Avoid using easy-to-guess words as your password.
4. Avoid using adjacent keyboard combinations such as “asdfg”, “qwerty”, “123456”, etc.

At times, strong and unique passwords might be difficult to remember. One easy way to do it is to use the letters of your favorite poem, story, phrase, etc. For example, let’s say my favorite line is “Sea Shells by the Seashore are Pretty”. Now, using the first letter of each word, I will come up with a password such as SSbtSaP@1920.

Now you can see for yourself how strong this password is, and approximately how long a hacker will take to crack it. Click the button below and you will be taken to a secure webpage where you can test your password too. However, do not use real passwords. Keeping the above tips in mind, create a password and test its strength.



See Also:
Your Passwords Are on the Way Out, Leave it to Twitter
Common Password Mistakes Most Make

 

Rajiv Singha

Rajiv Singha


34 Comments

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  1. Avatar SURANJAN SHAHNovember 3, 2014 at 4:00 PM

    Excellent educative article. I think the real answer to this problem is to continue changing the password after a certain period of time and keeping the PW strong with the format presentation as described, so that we can keep the hackers at a certain distance, because we know that professional hackers are damn good information technologist people on loose.

    Reply
  2. I don’t think the website how strong is your password is accurate b’coz it calculates the time taken to crack the password according to the the number of characters.for eg: 1234567891011121314151617181920 would be strong acc. to it but it’s just counting from 1 to 20

    Reply
    • Rajiv Singha Rajiv SinghaNovember 4, 2014 at 9:57 AM

      Hi K.S.S,

      The password grading website, although not accurate, gives an approximate idea of the strength of your password. In this case, it is grading the “1234567891011121314151617181920” as strong due to its length. Also, if you have noticed, the site advises you to use symbols to make it more secure. We would advise you to try simple words like “password123”, “cow123”, etc., and note the results.

      You can also grade your password with Microsoft password checker – https://bit.ly/1fHVk8D

      Regards,

      Reply
  3. thank you quick hael
    for this

    Reply
  4. Thanks, very informative.

    Reply
  5. Very Precious

    Reply
  6. Avatar RANJAN KUMAR PATRANovember 3, 2014 at 9:14 PM

    Very informative & useful.
    Thanks,
    With regards,

    Reply
  7. Avatar Pradeep SaxenaNovember 4, 2014 at 1:07 AM

    have been using similar type of “Password’s” at almost every site.Even at many sites wherever possible,I have gone for “Second sign in security” too.
    Pradeep Saxena
    Consultant
    (Electrical & Automation)
    Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh)

    Reply
  8. Thanks for this article

    Reply
  9. Avatar rohit sharmaNovember 4, 2014 at 9:32 AM

    hy, i have very strong password , so i am not afaried.
    thank you

    Reply
  10. thanks

    Reply
  11. Avatar Kishor KulkarniNovember 4, 2014 at 2:21 PM

    Very informative article. Specially for those who are eager to use online services but are careless to protect their passwords. We must remember online services are handy if we are careful, but cost us very much if we ignore the tips.

    I will be glad if any article on how to check fake websites and fake adds is posted.
    Thanks

    Reply
  12. Thanks quick heal

    Reply
  13. thanks to share information with us

    Reply
  14. Avatar hemant dhangarNovember 4, 2014 at 11:06 PM

    Thx for great n valuable advice….

    Reply
  15. Educative Excellent

    Reply
  16. I think that we have to change our password within 5 to 6 days regularly but without getting confused with our passwords ……..

    Reply
  17. Thanks for the writing article about how to secure password but Is there any software that helps to make your password more secure form hackers or spammers ?

    Reply
    • Rahul Thadani Rahul ThadaniNovember 5, 2014 at 10:33 AM

      Hi,

      Thanks for the feedback. When it comes to passwords, it is best to pick a really strong password that you can remember. There is no software that can work as well as simply picking a very hard password to crack. This means picking special characters, numbers and uppercase letters. This makes passwords harder to remember but you can use some tricks to make it more memorable. Hope that helps.

      Best regards.

      Reply
  18. How do we know if somebody has already hacked my password?s

    Reply
    • Rahul Thadani Rahul ThadaniNovember 6, 2014 at 5:18 PM

      Hi Mahboob,

      If you are noticing any suspicious activity in your account, then it is possible that it is hacked. You can also check the login details of your account to see when and where it has been accessed from. Let us know if this helps.

      Regards.

      Reply
  19. NICE…………

    Reply
  20. Avatar Madan gopal solankiNovember 5, 2014 at 11:53 AM

    Thanks for educat for secure.

    Reply
  21. Thanks for this idea.

    Reply
  22. Avatar Keshav SankrityaNovember 5, 2014 at 7:44 PM

    Very helpful advice.
    Thanks.

    Reply
  23. thanks for this kind information

    Reply
  24. Avatar pradip kumar mukherjeeNovember 6, 2014 at 7:08 AM

    thanks mr Rajib

    Reply
  25. Avatar suman Kalyan dasNovember 6, 2014 at 12:11 PM

    Thank to quick heal for a real protection.

    Reply
  26. Avatar SHIVENDRA MAURYANovember 6, 2014 at 7:13 PM

    Thakyou for this.

    Reply
  27. Avatar nighat lohaniNovember 17, 2014 at 10:18 PM

    Have changed my device,and given the old one to a friend to use.problem is,without deleting the quickheal,it was set on factory reset. Now I keep on getting SMS on the number I had set as alternate no. Help me in solving this problem.please.

    Reply
  28. hi there,
    i am using quick heal pro 2014,
    i am facing a problem with this antivirus that i forgot the password of settings and just can’t change until i have access to the settings.
    please help.
    thank you.

    Reply