How to create a strong password

Choosing a strong password is becoming increasingly difficult, but is super-important! The simple tips below are intended to assist all LCN customers choose a strong but memorable password and help keep their services secure.

Let’s get started…

Why it’s important

Believe it or not, a large percentage of the passwords people use aren’t very strong. This leaves their email addresses, websites and personal information open to be being compromised.

Once compromised, the culprit has free-reign to use their website and email address to send spam, attack other networks and generally cause chaos.

This chaos can lead to our network reputation being tarnished and blacklisted (which stops other customers of ours from being able to send email). This will ultimately leave you unable to use your services with us, because your account will be suspended.

No doubt you’ll agree that none of the above sounds like fun! Fear-not, avoiding this is simple, just follow the steps outline below.

Things to include

To ensure that your password is as secure as possible it’s good practice to:

• Make your password at least ten characters in length
• Use at least three or more of the following:

Lowercase letters – (wxyz)
Uppercase letters – (WXYZ)
Numbers – (123)
Special characters – (!$%)

Things to avoid

Once you’ve included all of the above, here are a few handy tips on things to avoid:

• Using words found in a dictionary
• Personal information – such as names and dates of birth
• Keyboard patterns – like qwerty or 12345
• All one type of character – such as all numbers, all lower-case or all upper-case characters
• The same password you use for another application

Creating a memorable password

Passwords that are easy to remember are often less secure than random ones. Below are some tips to help you find the right balance between a convenient and secure password.

• Create a unique acronym for a sentence or phrase you like – such as ‘Apoc8!’ for ‘A piece of cake!’
• Include phonetic replacements – such as ‘H8 2 Leaf’ for ‘Hate to Leave’

Keeping it a secret

Creating a strong password is only half the job, keeping your new password a secret is also an important part of keeping your services secure. Here’s how you do it:

• Never tell anyone your password – This includes significant others, roommates and co-workers
• Never write your password down
• Don’t store your password in a plain text file on your computer
• Never send your password via messaging services (e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger)
• Test the strength of your password periodically (tools included below)
• Update your password every six months

Third-party tools

There are many third-party applications available on the web to test, generate and store your passwords. Below we have provided some of the tools we use every day:

Password generators

• https://strongpasswordgenerator.com/
• http://passwordsgenerator.net/

Password Strength tester

• https://howsecureismypassword.net/
• http://www.passwordmeter.com/

Password storing tools

• https://1password.com – for Mac
• https://www.lastpass.com – for Windows
• https://keepersecurity.com – for iPhone

That’s it! You now have all the information you need to choose a secure password.