The highlight of the internet over the past week was a very serious internet security threat that they call “HeartBleed“… and the reason this threat is very serious has to do with it being undetectable! so imagine someone being able to impersonate you or hack into you account and goes out undetected… Now That’s serious!!

This week’s Tip is a Bit Techy, but based on experience, non-technical folks have had issues with the subject of choosing strong passwords since a long time and some of them even when they do find a “strong” password, they use the same password everywhere… Now here’s a small strategy for you:

1.Understand the difference

In the computer language, (especially when it comes to passwords),  the word Simple is different than simple  and Hello is different than HELLO. That is called Case Sensitive… so The UPPERCASE is treated differently than the lower case. and an example of Special characters  is:   _ –  $ % ( ) @ !   and so on

So when you are Asked for a Strong password, mainly the first thing you need to think of, is to Change the case on your word  and mix it up with some special character. Like per example: marryhadalittlelamb becomes M@rryH@daL!ttleLAmb

2. Pronounce it Locally

English is not my native language and same goes to a lot of people, nevertheless I mostly write my password in English (or Latin) characters; now in order for you to chose a difficult to guess word as your password, you can simply chose one word from your native language and write it down as you pronounce it in Latin characters.. Some examples:

Spanish: Urgente is pronounced UrKhente

Russian: спасибо is written spasibo and pronounced spasiba

Arabic: حبيبي is written Habibi and pronounced 7abibi (where the 7 is a simulation to a ح in arabic)

So here’s an example for a father who’s son is name is Nader and born in 2010:

I Love my Son Nader 2010, will become: B7eb-ibni_N@Der2010

3. Use different passwords for different websites

Most of the times, people use the same password for different websites, because they fear to get overwhelmed with the number of passwords they need to remember and risk forgetting them. It’s a Valid concern, but not a cautious one… here’s how you can succeed in remembering it:

Facebook: B7eb-ibni_N@Der2010*Facebook!

Twitter: B7eb-ibni_N@Der2010*Twitter!

 and so one… Just add an * and a ! to the website you’re setting it up for, and you can even change the position of the site-name as well to be within your password 😉

Remember, changing your password is always recommended to be done periodically. So why don’t you enjoy and have fun while doing that!

Enjoy your Week!
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Image courtesy of phanlop88 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project