Picking a Secure Password

Although placing an ad on the internet does not normally need high security, choosing a secure password is always good practice. Here are some tips take from Eric Wolframs site available at http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/password.html

Tips:

The following guidelines will guard against someone finding out your password and using your account illegally:

• Make your password as long as possible. The longer it is, the more difficult it will be to attack the password with a brute-force search. Always use at least 6 characters in your password, at least two of which are numeric.
• Use as many different characters as possible when forming your password. Use numbers, punctuation characters and, when possible, mixed upper and lower-case letters. Choosing characters from the largest possible alphabet will make your password more secure.
• Do not use personal information in your password that someone else is likely to be able to figure out. Obviously, things like your name, phone number, and address are to be avoided. Even names of acquaintances and the like should not be used.
• Do not use words, geographical names, or biographical names that are listed in standard dictionaries.
• Never use a password that is the same as your account number. Do not use passwords that are easy to spot while you're typing them in. Passwords like 12345, qwerty (i.e., all keys right next to each other), or nnnnnn should be avoided.
• Change your password on a regular basis. Wolfram advocates changing your password every 30 days as a good rule-of-thumb, and never going longer than 90 days before picking a new password, but other disagree. Pick a good pasword which is memorable to you and incudes numbers and it can be kept for longer. Do not reuse any previous password you have used. The longer you wait before changing passwords, the more difficult it will be to get used to the new one.