Strong Passwords Help Prevent Identity Theft

Are you guilty of using your dog's name for a password?

Or worse yet, the word 'password' for your password? If you are, you're not alone. I have a friend who uses her dog's name for all her passwords and thinks it's her super-secret one because that dog died some years ago. Problem is, it's a rather common word found in every dictionary and easily deciphered by any half-witted hack.

Your password is vitally important to your security. If an identity thief gets the password to your credit card account or bank account, he can wipe you out with a click of a button.

So you need an easy way to remember strong passwords.

Random numbers and letters are the best choice. Mix them up and be sure to use capital letters as well as lower-case ones.

Hey, that doesn't sound so easy to remember, a bunch of random letters and numbers.... until you have a method to the randomness.

Choose a line from a song you like or a poem or a movie. Or just simply make up a sentence that you'll remember. Something like: Strong passwords deter Identity Theft = SpdIT. Now put a few of your favorite numbers in front and at the end to get this: 42SpdIT966.

Now you've got a good password that's impossible to just guess and very difficult to crack. Wasn't that easy?