How to choose a strong password

Password security is in the news again, as it is revealed that hackers had managed to break into the accounts of many Twitter users.

Many of the affected Twitter users had previously registered on P2P file-sharing sites – and hackers had been able to enter the sites through a backdoor and grab their account information (including email address and password).

Although a username and password for a torrent-downloading website may not seem very valuable, it does have a significant worth if the same email address and password is being used for a social networking site like Twitter too.

As we’ve explained before, you should never use the same username and password on multiple websites. It’s like having a skeleton key which opens every door – if they grab your password in one place…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.