SecurePasswords

Passwords are the most basic types of security. Althout it is a very simple method a password can make or break a system. To use this authetication method succesfully and efficiently you will need to put secure guidelines in place.

To create a secure password it cannot be short. For Example: A four character password is easier to guess and/or bruteforce than a 16 character password.(although many sites have methods to prevent or hinder bruteforceing such as CAPTCHA images) Always try and keep passwords at a minumum of 12 characters. This will ensure the password is at least partly secure (as for as the length goes).

However just because a password is long doesn’t mean it’s secure. For Example: If you lock all the windows but leave your doors wide open is your house secure? NO! You will also want to throw a few numbers in there. Secure passwords ALWAYS have at least one number and one letter. These are called alphanumberic (big word huh?). Say you have the password “thisismypass” and you want to make it alphanumeric, all you would have to do is change some of the letters to numbers, like the “s”s to “5”s. Now we have “thi5i5mypa55”. There that’s much better.

Ok, now we’ve made it alphanumeric and you’re probably thinking “Wow, surely I have a secure password now!” Well… you’re wrong. Yes I hate to tell you but we’re not done yet. Now that it’s alphanumeric we need to change it up a little more, we can do this by adding special characters (!,@,#,etc…). Adding special charaters will ensure that the password is even more difficult to crack.

To do this let’s take our password “thi5i5mypa55” and change the “a” to an at symbol, and the “I”s to carets. Now you should have “th^5^5myp@55”. Fairly simple no? Now to crack this password it should take approximatly 4.163882e+006 years, but still we may want to change it a little more just for the sake of mind.

Now let’s change a few of the letters to upper case,hmm… how about the “t” and the “m”, now you should have “Th^5^5Myp@55”. This is a great password! (wish I saw more like it -_-) this password right here alone will take about 4.383982e+008 years to crack via bruteforcing! (geeze that’s a long time). However just because you have a fairly secure password doesn’t mean you’re safe.


Passwords should be used along with usernames (or IDs), logging, intrusion detection, and many other forms of security. Remember just locking the door is never enough, you may also have to dead-bolt it too depending on your neighborhood, and the internet is the most dangerous neighborhood in the world.

Before you go remember these tips:
+Always keep passwords to a minimum of 12 characters.
+Always use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
+Always change passwords regularly.
+Never write your password down.
+Never use common words such as: love, god, sex, password, etc…
+Never use names of family members or birthdates.
+BE CAREFULL WHEN SELECTING A PASSWORD!!!!!

Note: All cracking times are based on a Intel Pentium Dual core at 1.6GHz

Thanks for taking the time to read this :) it is the first article I've ever written although I have another in the making...
~Darkvengance

Thanks to VBAssasin for helping me revise this article.