Safer Passwords

How long does it take a hacker to guess your password? Less time than you might think.

Length	Lowercase	+ Uppercase	+ Number & Symbol
6 Characters	10 minutes	10 hours	18 days
7 Characters	4 hours	23 days	4 years
8 Characters	4 days	3 years	463 years
9 Characters	4 months	178 years	44,530 years

The best way to keep your password safe from hackers is to use numbers & symbols in your password. For example, "password5&" is much more secure than "password", in terms of hackability. Even if you just use a common/proper noun as your password, adding numbers, symbols or uppercase characters (ie "susie74!") can help keep your password from being easily cracked.

For even better passwords, create a sentence that you can easily remember and then combine the first character of each word with a series of numbers or characters.

For example, "Seven dogs ran around the lake & played with 3 geese. Weird!" as a password becomes "7dratl&pw3g.W!".

Remember, the better your password, the safer your data!

Source:  http://blog.kevindonahue.com