Creating a safe password that is difficult for others to guess
Passwords are very important when accessing personal information over the internet (from your bank, supermarket or General Practice) because systems on the web are built to discriminate very carefully when incorrect passwords are entered. The system that we use at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres is case sensitive which means that not only are the correct order of letters,numbers and other characters required but it is also essential also to use the correct upper and lower case letters – THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WHEN CREATING YOUR PASSWORD!
We have assembled tips from some of our patients on creating strong passwords below.
- Include both uppercase and lowercase letters and at least one number
- Do not use birthdays
- Do not include your login name, a.k.a. username, in any form (i.e. as is, reversed, capitalized, doubled) or any other name
- Avoid words that can be found in a dictionary (including foreign and technical dictionaries) these include names.
- Do not use a password that has already been given as an example of a good password.
- Create an easy to remember password: One possible way to choose a good password is to make up your own acronym (an Acronym is something like NHS, TUC, GMPTE etc.,. Create a phrase that has meaning to you and pick the first letter of each word. Remember: a combination of numbers and letters is harder to guess or crack with a computer program.
For example:
- I love to shop for sandals in the Spring.” (Il2s4sitS)
- 12 x 12 are 144 (12x12r144)
- “I’m going to work out 3 times a week.” (Ig2wo3taw)
- “Last summer I caught a 30 inch striped bass.” (LsIca30isb)
- My password needs to be 8 letters long (mpntb8ll)
A similar method is to take out all the vowels from a short phrase.
For example:
“I work 8 hours a day.” (wrk8hrsdy)
Overall it is important that a password is something that you can easily remember now and in the future and that you ensure that loved ones are aware of your PIN and password if you feel you would like them to be aware of it in case of an emergency where you may yourself be unconscious.