Common Mistakes That Make Your Passwords Easy Targets

This article explains the difference between a strong password and a weak one. It includes tips and examples for making a password stronger.

Examples of Weak Passwords

Hackers use automated software to make hundreds of password guesses per minute. These tools rely on lists of dictionary words for sequential guessing. Some tools even add common symbols, numbers, or signs to mimic attempts at more complex passwords.

Dictionary hacking tools using English word lists can easily find passwords. If a simple word doesn't work, the tool modifies it and tries other versions. For example, a Dictionary hacking tool would attempt these iterations of the word Dog:

• Dog
• Dogs
• Dogcatcher
• Dogcatchers
• Dogberry
• Dogberries
• Dogma
• Dogmatic
• Dogmatized
• Dog1
• Dog2
• Dog3
• Dog4

Password-guessing tools try hundreds or thousands of words each minute. If a password is similar to a dictionary word, it's highly insecure. Passwords without regular word patterns are harder for these tools to guess.

Passwords that include personal information, like birthdates or street addresses, are easy targets for hackers.

How to Make Your Password More Secure

To keep your accounts secure, make a strong password that's difficult to guess and store it in a password manager so you won't forget. A strong password is more resistant to guessing, so it's unlikely to be found in a brute force dictionary hack.

The best way to create a secure password is to start with a simple password and turn it into a complex one.

The table below shows examples of a simple password that is progressively made more complex. The first column lists simple words that are easy to remember and are found in the dictionary. The second column is a modification of the first column. The last column shows how the simple password is converted into one that is harder to figure out.

Here are other examples of password variations that purposely avoid using complete English word patterns:

• Dog.lov3r
• dOG.lov3r
• i7ovemydog!!
• d0gsaremybestfr13nds
• sn00pdoggyd0G
• Karm@beatsDogm@
• C@ts-and-Dogs-Living-together

By injecting numbers and special characters instead of letters, these passwords take exponentially longer for a dictionary program to guess.