When it comes to your technology resources, you’re security conscious and understand the need for a password. Even though you want your password to be secure, it can be hard to keep track of all the password requirements these days. One of the simplest things you can do to help ensure password security is to make sure that you’re using at least eight characters.
Different systems may or may not allow you to use symbols (like *, %, #, etc), but most modern security will allow you to enter eight (or more) characters. By doing so, you greatly reduce the chances that password cracking programs (aka, “brute force” attacks) will be able to “guess” your password.
Each additional character exponentially increases the complexity that must be overcome for a brute force attack to succeed. There is a technical explanation for why this is, but understanding it is beyond the interest and/or comprehension of most users. Since we all have enough to try to remember when it comes to computers, I’ll spare any further explanation on that in this article.
For those who are interested in understanding the ‘mechanics’ behind the concept, Wikipedia has some good information about it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength). For the rest of us, just make sure your password has eight or more characters and leave the in-depth understanding to IT professionals like those helping you every day at BVA!
