As you know, many sites on the Internet and some programs on your computer require the use of a password. Often, what we do is simply choose a password that is easy for us to remember. Unfortunately, those types of passwords are usually pretty simple for crackers' software to figure out. Yes, that’s right. Crackers** have software that tries password after password - entire dictionaries in fact - until it figures out your password. NOT good!

In this day and age, it is extremely important that passwords are complicated enough to keep hackers and crackers away from our personal information.  We use the NIPC's method of creating passwords and you should be using that also.

I want to direct you to an online security page presented by Homeland Security.   Please take the time to read it.  If you adopt their password method, you’ll decrease the likelihood of being hacked and/or not being able to get into an account or program up to a trillion to one. Oh, and I know this reading may be a little dry - perhaps even “boring.” But, it is important especially as we use our computers online more and more.

Here is the site - if you can’t simply click and go to the site, please cut and paste the address into your browser:
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST04-002.

You'll find another guide and a password-checker here: https://www.bestvpn.com/password-strength-checker/. 

**Cracker - This is the common term used to describe a malicious hacker. Crackers get into all kinds of mischief, including breaking or "cracking" copy protection on software programs, breaking into systems and causing harm, changing data, or stealing. Hackers regard crackers as a less educated group of individuals that cannot truly create their own work, and simply steal other people's work to cause mischief, or for personal gain.