Creating strong passwords Computer security includes the use of strong passwords for your network logon and the Administrator account on your computer. Be at least seven characters long. Because of the way passwords are encrypted, the most secure passwords are seven or 14 characters long. Contain characters from each of the following three groups: Group Examples Letters (uppercase and lowercase) A, B, C... (and a, b, c...) Numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Symbols (all characters not defined as letters or numerals) ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] \ : " ; ' < > ? , . / Have at least one symbol character in the second through sixth positions. Strong passwords are important because password cracking tools continue to improve and the computers used to crack passwords are more powerful than ever. Network passwords that once took weeks to crack can now be cracked in hours.!!
