What are the three basic rules for creating passwords?

Answer 1

There are no specific rules for creating passwords (other than not putting it on a post-it note and putting it on your computer!).

Many organizations will require that you have a password with one or more of the following:

• At least 8 characters
• At least one capital letter, i.e. A-Z
• At least one number, i.e. 0-9
• At least one special symbol (!@#$%^&*)

However, the best passwords are long passwords. The password alongtimeagoinagalaxyfarfaraway is actually much harder to crack than Fred*123. So the phrase "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away" or alongtimeagoinagalaxyfarfaraway is not only easier to remember but also harder to crack.

Answer 2

A good password policy should require passwords to be at least some specified number of characters long. It should also require that all passwords contain at least one letter and one number 'furthermore, no password should be allowed to be in a common list such as a dictionary. In addition every user should be required to change their password on a regular basis. All new passwords should differ from all old passwords by at least 2 characters. Finally new passwords should not be any of the old passwords with consecutive integers or the date of the password change appended to them.

Answer 3

Passwords should have an expiration period.

Password lockout should be enabled.

A mix of letters, numbers, and other characters should be used.