Member Education & Consumer Tips

Choosing a Secure Password

Picking a secure password is one of the most important things you can do to protect your online privacy. A good password should be:

• Known only to you
• Long enough to be secure
• Hard to guess -- even by someone who knows you well
• Easy for you to remember and type accurately
• Passwords should be changed periodically, usually every three to six months.

What NOT To Use

• Don't use your first or last name in any form (as-is, reversed, capitalized, etc.).
• Don't use your spouse's or child's name.
• Don't use your pet's name.
• DON'T use a password shorter than six characters.
• Don't use other information easily obtained about you. This includes license plate, telephone or social security numbers, the name of the street you live on, etc.
• Don't use a password of all digits, or all the same letter.

What TO Use

• A password with mixed-case alphabetics.
• A password that includes numbers as well as letters.
• A password that is easy to remember, so you don't have to write it down.

Method to Choose Secure and Easy to Remember Passwords

• Choose a line or two from a song or poem, and use the first letter of each word. For example, "Live in a field of enraptured moments" becomes "Liafoem.''
• Alternate between one consonant and one or two vowels, up to eight characters. This provides nonsense words that are usually pronounceable, and thus easily remembered.
• Choose two short words and put numbers between them. For example: brick6tomat0.