Hotmail Security, Common Passwords Blocked ~ SecurityGarden

A commonality in hacked Hotmail accounts is a weak password. A weak password is not only a sequence of numbers or consecutive keyboard characters such as 3333333 or asdfgh. Any dictionary word (regardless of language), abbreviations, and words spelled backward are weak passwords. The list of common passwords also includes personal information, such as your children or pet's name, telephone number, house numbers, etc.

Hotmail Team Action

The Hotmail team is rolling out a new security feature that will prevent you from choosing a very common password when recovering a compromised Hotmail account, signing up for a Hotmail account or when changing your password. In addition, if you are already using a common password, you may, at some point in the future, be asked to change it to a stronger password.

Key to a Strong Password

The key to a strong password is both complexity and length.

Complexity is not merely adding an upper case letter or an obvious misspelling, such as P@$$w0rd. That just won't pass muster. A list of the 500 worst passwords is in the references below. If you use any of those examples or even something similar it is time to change it, especially for your e-mail, banking or any site where you pay bills or conduct on-line purchases.

Although some websites limit the number of characters allowed in a password, the longer your password, the harder it will be for it to be compromised.

Test the passwords you use with the Password Checker. If your password is weak or medium in strength, make it experiment with the Password Checker adding characters, with a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and keyboard symbols.

Additional Topics on Managing Hotmail

References

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SecurityGarden

Thursday, July 14, 2011