Just Google the title of this blog post and you’ll get an idea of how important
the topic is. Whether you’re a large, multi-national corporation trying to protect your digital assets or a sole proprietor paying your bills online, personal security in today’s internet based world is (or should be) on your mind.
And now that almost everyone carries around a mobile internet device (sometimes called a cell phone), a simple thing like a mobile password makes a huge difference.
A few years ago, InformationWeek, a publication that caters to the business technology community, published an article about the passwords people use on their iPhones. The article may be a few years old but it still applies today. You can read it here.
I asked one of my colleagues if he has a password on his cell phone. His response not unusual. “No. I have nothing to hide”, he said. But think about this for a minute. Ever purchased something using your phone? Ever filled out a form that included something private, like maybe a social security number? If so, you may not have anything to hide but you certainly want that phone to be secure!
Hence the need for pass-codes.
If you’re old enough to remember when the most popular desktop password was “password”, you may not be surprised when you hear what the most popular 4 digit pass-code is. According to the article referenced above, it’s 1234. How secure is that?
For years I’ve used a 4 digit pass-code on my phone. It’s easy for me to remember and to be honest, I’ve grown complacent with it. As a result of writing this article, I’ve gone the extra step of using a trick I was taught to remember passwords.
The best passwords are a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and maybe a symbol like $ or %. But the problem is remembering them. The trick is this. Don’t try to remember the pass-code, remember a phrase, one that’s meaningful to you but not known to anyone else. Here’s an example.
Suppose you have a daughter, her name is Jane and she’s nine years old. Would the phrase, “I love my 9 year old daughter Jane” mean something to you? Then make your pass-code is Ilm9yodJ.
Make sense? How about another example? What about the phrase, “Jane is in college which costs a lot of money”. What would the pass-code be? (If you answered, “Jiicwcalo$” you know how to make and remember very strong pass-codes!)
Your thoughts and feedback are appreciated.