Just a few years ago, when online, you might have had just a single password to remember for your email account. Nowadays though it’s not uncommon to have dozens of passwords created for innumerous internet services you’ve signed up to. And you can guess what happens : Lots of individuals are inclined to use the very same password again and again. Some individuals may not think their Hotmail account as being hugely important, but it is if you’re using the very same password as you are for your bank account. For sure, it’s handy to only have to remember just one password, but what if a hacker gets their hands on that one password? You guessed it, they potentially have access to all of the servives you’ve signed up to that share that same password. And if you think they can’t know the other services you’ve signed up to, it isn’t required. They can launch web application programs which examine literally thousands of services and try to match your account name/password pair that they already have.
It’s an issue, but it’s easily remedied. The fact is, it’s not necessary to store each and every username/password. Why? Your browser can remember this data. Be it your Gmail login or Email password. Just ask your web browser to remember each username/password, and then setup a central password (”master password”) just in case someone else gets physical access to your computer. If they do so, they will have to key in the master password in order to login to any of your services. So in effect, you can join hundreds of online services, and merely need to remember one single password : your master password for your browser.
In terms of thinking of passwords themselves, make them random and long, such as 8JJJfrfrt65K which is a variety of lower and upper case characters and numbers. Since it’s not required to remember them yourself, be as obscure as you wish. Whatever you do, don’t use normal phrases as your password, as these are easy to identify for 3rd parties.
