Your online passwords often are the only barrier between your personal information and a potential crook. So why would you choose a password that someone easily could guess or figure out?

It may seem inconvenient to spend time creating and updating strong passwords, but weak passwords are almost as useless as not having a password at all. People who steal your passwords have the ammunition to steal your identity. Attackers create programs to help them guess your password, so having a complex password is essential!

Although there is no way to completely ward off attackers, here is some advice to improve your passwords:

1. Don't Use Personal Information of any Kind: This includes any Names, Birth Dates, other important dates, Addresses, Phone Numbers, License Plate Numbers, a String of digits from you SSN, or any other information about you that is easily accessible.
2. Don't Use Any Words Found in a Dictionary: Even words in foreign languages can be detected by hacking programs. Proper nouns, Geographical locations, and words spelled backwards are also off-limits.
3. Use Mnemonics to Create Strong Passwords: Instead of using a favorite activity, such as "dance" as your password, create an easy-to-remember phrase and use the First letter of each word to create a password. For example: "Dancing Is My Favorite Thing To Do" turns in to "dimfttd."
4. Use a Combination of Capitalization, Numbers, and Symbols to increase complexity: Scatter these elements throughout the password instead of putting them all at the end. For example: 5DiM*Ft2d! is a stronger password than the previous example.
5. Use Different Passwords for Different Programs: Don't use your new, complex password for everything. That way, if a hacker gets into one program, others still will be secure. Although they can be hard to remember, don't write your passwords on anything neat your computer.
6. Pick a Password You Can Type Quickly: Make sure someone looking over your shoulder can't see what you type. Also, don't use a string of Easily-Recognizable characters that are next to each other on the keyboard, such as "123456" or "qwerty."