Sep 13, 2009, 14:28 GMT
Cologne - A strong password is an important part of guarding personal information accessible from the web. Coming up with a password that is both memorable and strong is not always easy, though.
One way to generate a safe password is to think up a sentence. Take the first letters from each of the words in the sentence and you'll generally have a new password that is neither easy to guess nor is found in the dictionary, experts in Germany say. Those two factors make the password harder to crack.
The passwords can be strengthened even further by adding numbers into the mix. Or even type an entire short sentence, typos and numbers included.
Studies by the experts have shown that roughly 80 per cent of internet users fail to take these steps and instead use terms that are simple to crack by guessing or using technological tools.
One important side note: even if you take the time to devise a difficult password, you should not use it on every site - from free online mail providers to Facebook. A separate password for each site is key.
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