by Simon Wright

Created on: August 02, 2007

There are many occasions, when using computers or the Internet, where you are asked (or recommended) to create a password, or a Personal Identification Number or PIN. (A PIN is just a type of password where all the characters are numbers).

They form an important part of the suite of measures that you should be using to ensure that your sensitive information and financial details remain secure. However, it should be noted that they need to be used in conjunction with other security measures such as using anti virus and anti spyware products and having a firewall.

So, what makes a good password? Having worked in online banking for many years, my tips are as follows:

- Never write down your password, especially in a place that is in close vicinity to your computer.

- Don't use obvious number combinations for PINs, i.e. 1234, or your birthday.

- Similarly, don't use your name or that of a relative, or a pet's name, or your favourite sports team or rock band. In other words, try to avoid words that a fraudster might be able to guess from information he/she has gained about you. (Remember that fraud is sometimes perpetrated by people who are known to the victim).

- Use a combination of letters and numbers and symbols where this is allowed.

- The longer your password, the more secure it is likely to be. (Microsoft provide this guidance 'Each character that you add to your password increases the protection that it provides many times over. Your passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or longer is ideal.'

- Don't use the same password for all the sites you access. This increases your risk, and may even breach the terms and conditions of sites that you have registered for. e.g. If a fraudster set up a fake porn site and got you to enter a password, and they then successfully used that password to access and defraud your bank account, then the bank might not feel obliged to provide a refund.

Another thing that you may want to consider is taking two separate words and putting them together. e.g. Car and Spoon for a password of Carspoon, or even better have the oohs as zeros for Carsp00n. What you're trying to do is to avoid using single dictionary words that fraudsters may be able to set programs to crack.

Password management is very important too. If you periodically change your password, this further increases the security of your information. Many companies recognise this and require employees to change the password used to logon to work PCs on

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