Tips for creating the most secure password

This article first appeared on February 7th, 2012.

You probably have a number of different passwords for a number of websites. And unfortunately, you’re likely using the same password for each site.

You shouldn’t. Here are a few tips to make your password more secure:

• Use different character classes, such as capital letters and numerals. Disperse these randomly if you want to make the password more secure.

• Patterns are fine, but you’ll want to avoid likely combinations like QWERTY and 12345.

• Use a number of different words. Using a phrase can make it harder to guess.

Change your passwords every six months. You don’t want to end up with a password that’s easy to guess, so keep it constantly moving.