1	Choosing a Good Password It doesn’t HAVE to be difficult!
2	What’s in a Good Password? A Good Password should be at least 6 characters long Should have a mix of upper and lower case characters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Should NEVER be written down Something that Only YOU will think of!
3	What Makes a BAD Password? Any form of your name, your spouse’s name, children, grandchildren, or pets. Your phone number, numbers in your street address, your birth date, etc/ Your User Name and Password shouldn’t be the same A password you have given to or shared with someone else.
4	The License Plate Rule: Take any phrase and try to squeeze it into six or eight characters, like you want to put it on a license plate For Example: Microsoft Becomes MCROSFT Microwave Becomes MCROWVE Computer Becomes CMPUTR Olympics Becomes OLYMPCS
5	Combine Small Words Combine Two Small Words to form one “non-existent” word phone + key = phonekey roof + finger = rooffinger book + shoe = bookshoe flower + cat = flowercat box + arm = boxarm frame + coffee = framecoffee putty + pen = puttypen
6	Separate Words or Syllables with Punctuation Marks Vege%tarian Fol_der Drive*way Mus&tang Ele)vator Sym#phony
7	Use Numbers! All Passwords should use numbers, It’s all in where you PUT them! Replace an E with a 3 Cheerios becomes Ch33rios Tree becomes Tr33 Replace an S with a 5 or a $ Sassy becomes 5a55y or $a$$y Replace an I with a 1 Internet becomes 1nternet Replace an O with a 0 Hook becomes H00k USE ALL FOUR! YIKES! Serious becomes $3r10u5
8	ACRONYMS! Take the first letter of each word of a song, saying, poem, etc. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” YCAGWYW (now WHO will guess THAT?!) Meagan Lives in Wyanet Illinois MLIWI Dorene Builds Websites Every Day DBWED
9	Nonsense and Gibberish! Alternate between consonants and vowels to make words that are pronounceable- but nonsense. Quadpop Routboo Moogle Wookgob
10	Deliberately Misspelling Words FURGET ALL YER SCHOOLIN! Makes Your Password Harder to Crack! Keechayn Pamperd Reptiyle Skedyule Jeraffe
11	DO Use a Password that you can remember, so you don’t have to write it down Use Variations of your password or the same password for each site, program, etc. Kindling1 Kindling2 Kindling_2 Kindling23 K1ndl1ng kInDLinG
12	DON’T Tell your siblings, your co-workers, your spouse, or ANYONE your password. Send anyone your password via e-mail or through an internet site that isn’t encrypted or secure Use your name spelled backwards Use information easily obtained about you (social security number, license plate number, automobile brand, street address, phone #) Use a password of all the same digit or letter 99999; 00000; MMMM; DDDD; MRMRMR, etc.
13	Congratulations, You are Now Password Savvy! Don’t think that no one wants your information Don’t think that you are safe with an insecure password If you think someone may know your password, change it IMMEDIATELY! Protect Yourself, No One Else Will!