Tips on how to create and remember your passwords
Use the first letters of a sentence that you will remember,e.g. "I have 3 cats: Kitty, Pinky and Faggy" gives: Ih3c:KP&F, or Bouncing tigers have every right to ice-cream becomes: Bther2I-C.
Take the name of the website and then add your personal twist, like your height or your friends home address (e.g. AmazonOceanRd). Avoid using your own contact details like your phone number or house number.
Remove the vowels from a word or phrase e.g. "I like eating peanuts becomes: Ilktngpnts.
Change your passwords at least every 60 days, cycling the numeric values up or down makes the new password easy to remember.
Try copying and pasting at least some of the characters in your password that way key loggers wont be able to track your keystrokes.
Use a phrase from your favourite book and then add the page, paragraph or chapter number.
Mix letters, numbers and symbols, and use case sensitivity (upper and lower case letters)
The longer the better. Use passwords that are longer than 6 characters.
Dont do this
Dont use words or phrases or numbers that have personal significance. It is very easy for someone to guess or identify your personal details like date of birth,phone numbers,any card numbers.
Dont use the same password for several logins, especially if they involve sensitive financial or other personal information.
(for example using same PIN for different ATM cards)
Dont tell anybody your password.
Avoid writing your password down, use a reputable password manager software to manage all your passwords.( Example : www.mypasswordmanager.com )
When registering on websites that ask for your email address, never use the same password as your email account.
Here is a simple PHP function to generate password string :
<?php
function generateAlphaNumericString($nLength=6){
$strAlphaNumeric="x03W@l9!";
if( $nLength > 0){
$arrStr= array();
$nChk=rand(1,3);
//few letters are avoided as it may confuse users
$cLetterArray=array("A","B","C","D","E","G","H","K","M","N","P","Q","R","S","T","X","Y","Z");
$sLetterArray=array("a","b","c","d","e","g","h","k","m","n","p","q","r","s","t","x","y","z");
$spCharArray=array("!","@","$","&","*","?","-","#");
$arrStr[0]=($nChk==2)?$sLetterArray[rand(0,17)]:($nChk==1)?$cLetterArray[rand(0,17)]:rand(1,9);
for($i=1;$i<$nLength; $i++){
$randval=rand(1,40);
if( $randval > 0 && $randval <= 10 ) $arrStr[$i]=$cLetterArray[rand(0,17)];
elseif( $randval > 10 && $randval <= 20 ) $arrStr[$i]=$sLetterArray[rand(0,17)];
elseif( $randval > 20 && $randval <= 30 ) $arrStr[$i]=$spCharArray[rand(0,7)];
else $arrStr[$i]=rand(1,9);
}
$strAlphaNumeric=implode("",$arrStr);
}
return $strAlphaNumeric;
}
// how to call the function
echo "Secret Key :: ".generateAlphaNumericString(25);
?>
Use the first letters of a sentence that you will remember,e.g. "I have 3 cats: Kitty, Pinky and Faggy" gives: Ih3c:KP&F, or Bouncing tigers have every right to ice-cream becomes: Bther2I-C.
Take the name of the website and then add your personal twist, like your height or your friends home address (e.g. AmazonOceanRd). Avoid using your own contact details like your phone number or house number.
Remove the vowels from a word or phrase e.g. "I like eating peanuts becomes: Ilktngpnts.
Change your passwords at least every 60 days, cycling the numeric values up or down makes the new password easy to remember.
Try copying and pasting at least some of the characters in your password that way key loggers wont be able to track your keystrokes.
Use a phrase from your favourite book and then add the page, paragraph or chapter number.
Mix letters, numbers and symbols, and use case sensitivity (upper and lower case letters)
The longer the better. Use passwords that are longer than 6 characters.
Dont do this
Dont use words or phrases or numbers that have personal significance. It is very easy for someone to guess or identify your personal details like date of birth,phone numbers,any card numbers.
Dont use the same password for several logins, especially if they involve sensitive financial or other personal information.
(for example using same PIN for different ATM cards)
Dont tell anybody your password.
Avoid writing your password down, use a reputable password manager software to manage all your passwords.( Example : www.mypasswordmanager.com )
When registering on websites that ask for your email address, never use the same password as your email account.
Here is a simple PHP function to generate password string :
<?php
function generateAlphaNumericString($nLength=6){
$strAlphaNumeric="x03W@l9!";
if( $nLength > 0){
$arrStr= array();
$nChk=rand(1,3);
//few letters are avoided as it may confuse users
$cLetterArray=array("A","B","C","D","E","G","H","K","M","N","P","Q","R","S","T","X","Y","Z");
$sLetterArray=array("a","b","c","d","e","g","h","k","m","n","p","q","r","s","t","x","y","z");
$spCharArray=array("!","@","$","&","*","?","-","#");
$arrStr[0]=($nChk==2)?$sLetterArray[rand(0,17)]:($nChk==1)?$cLetterArray[rand(0,17)]:rand(1,9);
for($i=1;$i<$nLength; $i++){
$randval=rand(1,40);
if( $randval > 0 && $randval <= 10 ) $arrStr[$i]=$cLetterArray[rand(0,17)];
elseif( $randval > 10 && $randval <= 20 ) $arrStr[$i]=$sLetterArray[rand(0,17)];
elseif( $randval > 20 && $randval <= 30 ) $arrStr[$i]=$spCharArray[rand(0,7)];
else $arrStr[$i]=rand(1,9);
}
$strAlphaNumeric=implode("",$arrStr);
}
return $strAlphaNumeric;
}
// how to call the function
echo "Secret Key :: ".generateAlphaNumericString(25);
?>
