Are You Using the Same Password for Everything?

Using the same password for everything is rather dangerous.... especially if it's your name. I'm not talking the nickname your spouse calls you. If your spouse calls you smoogly bear probably no one knows about it. I'm talking the name your mama gave you. All someone has to do is find out your name and email address (piece of cake) and they have access to your personal account information. If your name is Jane and your email address is janesmith@anything.com... it's real easy to hack your account if your name is Jane.  That can put you in a financial pickle real fast.

Using your spouse's name is not a good idea either. That's public record material. I wouldn't advise using your children's names for everything either. That's also public record. Your pet's name isn't public record (unless you've blogged about the pet). 

Instead of using the same password for everything, come up with a password scheme. Here's an example
Google: googly2011
Amazon: amazony2011
Yahoo: yahooey2011

Notice they all contain numbers. They don't have your name. They are different. They are at least 10 characters long for added security.  Nowadays security experts are recommending passwords be 10-12 characters long and 12 is better. With 8 characters, your password can be cracked in a matter of hours. With 10 characters a matter of months. It would take centuries to crack your 12 character long password.

 Ok, it's not fun to change passwords and remember new passwords, but if you come up with a scheme it won't be too hard. You can alter the year in the above scheme so that your password changes every year. Just an example.  


I used to have the same 9 character password for everything. I switched to a scheme of more than 10 characters long so that my passwords are easy to remember and are more secure. If I can do it, so can you. You'll be safer!