A few decades ago, a password was a foreign concept to internet users. It is, however, not anymore because the password has become the master-key to the digital age. And now, it is impossible to access personal data online without a password. Furthermore, shopping online, banking online and online social interaction are all not possible without one.

So what exactly is the essence of a password? It identifies an account user. And in this article, the word password and identity would be used interchangeably. The password also provide access to either limited or controlled resources.

The increasing nature and sensitivity of personal data mean that it is also no longer enough to have just a simple password. One requires a ‘strong’ identity. A strong identity is required because whether one likes it or not, people are snooping around, and somebody somewhere is, unfortunately, interested in other people’s personal data.

So what is a strong password? A ‘strong’ password is one that would be difficult to hack. It is one that has not been used before. A ‘strong’ password is one that is used on only one account. There is no room for using one password for all accounts because when a hacker breaks into one of those accounts, that person would have automatic access to all of the other accounts.

6 Features Of A Strong Password.

A ‘strong’ identity, therefore, would require that certain guidelines are followed. So here are 6 things to consider when creating one. A ‘strong’ password must:

have a combination of upper and lower cases

contain special characters

not contain obvious information such as anniversary dates, username or postcode etc.

not be found in the dictionary

be different from previous passwords

not be less than 8 characters

How To Create A Strong Password

A good way to create a ‘strong’ password that would also keep hackers away, for instance, is to divide a word into two parts then add some other characters as seen in the following example.

Here, we take the first half of the word ‘London’ away, and replace the rest of it with a few characters to form this password: doN*!2yxy. Apart from taking away a few letters in the word London, the letter N is now in upper case.

This password contains all the features listed above and, therefore makes a very ‘strong’ password. Although this particular password: ‘doN*!2yxy’ is not difficult to remember, it would also be absolutely difficult to hack.

Another way of creating a strong password is by using password managers like ‘dashlane’. The advantage of adopting such a software is that because a password can easily be retrieved, there is no fear of creating a very ‘strong’ or complex one.

Finally, a good way to keep hackers miles away from an account is to frequently change passwords.