Five tips to help keep your passwords secret
Treat your passwords with as much care as you treat the information that they protect.
Use strong passwords to log on to your computer and to any site—including social networking sites—where you enter your credit card number, or any financial or personal information.
- Never provide your password in an email or in response to an email request.
- Internet "phishing" scams use fraudulent email messages to entice you to reveal your user names and passwords, steal your identity, and more. Learn more about phishing scams and how to deal with online fraud.
- Do not type passwords on computers that you do not control, such as those in Internet cafes, computer labs, kiosk systems, and airport lounges.
- Cyber criminals can purchase keystroke logging devices that gather information typed on public computers, including passwords.
- If you need to regularly check email from a public computer, consider using Hotmail, which allows you to obtain a single-use code. To get a single-use code, click Sign in with a single-use code, and Hotmail will send a one-time use authentication code to a mobile phone. You can opt to use the one-time code, instead of your password, to access your account on a public machine.
- Don't reveal your passwords to others.
- Keep your passwords hidden from friends or family members (especially children), who could pass them on to other, less trustworthy individuals.
- Protect any recorded passwords.
- Don't store passwords on a file in your computer, because criminals will look there first.
- Keep your record of the passwords you use in a safe, secure place.
- Use more than one password.
- Use different passwords for different websites and services.
Check your password — is it strong?
Your online accounts, computer files, and personal information are more secure when you use strong passwords to help protect them.
Test the strength of your passwords: Type a password into the box.
Password:
Strength:
Not rated Note: This does not guarantee the security of the password. This is for your personal reference only.
What is a strong password?
The strength of a password depends on the different types of characters that you use, the overall length of the password, and whether the password can be found in a dictionary. It should be at least 14 characters long.
For tips about how to create passwords that are easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess, read Create strong passwords.
About this password checker
This password checker does not collect, store, or transmit information.
The security of the passwords typed into this password checker is similar to the security of the password you enter when you log on to Windows. The pas