What's Considered a "Strong Password"?

[MC]

What is considered a strong password? I know password crackers work by going through a very long list of combinations of characters and words, but would a strong password be enough to not be easily cracked?

 

[Smith]

8+ randomized characters will keep any brute force method off your tail.

 

[MC]

8+ randomized characters will keep any brute force method off your tail.

So, using words in a password is considered a "no no"?

 

[Smith]

As long as your pass isn't something like thisismypass or something similar, you'll be fine.

And as long as you don't use the same password for multiple forums, especially if they're ... untrustworthy.

 

[Optimus Prime]

8+ letters long, using at least one letter, one number, and one special character like a ! $ & etc... are pretty safe.

 

[MC]

As long as your pass isn't something like thisismypass or something similar, you'll be fine.

And as long as you don't use the same password for multiple forums, especially if they're ... untrustworthy.

My passwords were pretty much the same, but when the ESF forums were attacked, I changed all of my passwords. Unfortunately, my Steam account password was cracked, and I can no longer get into it nor can I get a hijack report sent to VALVe. I guess it was my fault since I picked a pretty simplistic password.

8+ letters long, using at least one letter, one number, and one special character like a ! $ & etc... are pretty safe.

Could I use characters like these in a password:

 

[Smith]

My passwords were pretty much the same, but when the ESF forums were attacked, I changed all of my passwords. Unfortunately, my Steam account password was cracked, and I can no longer get into it nor can I get a hijack report sent to VALVe. I guess it was my fault since I picked a pretty simplistic password.

You were still pretty safe after the forum was attacked. Passwords stored on vbulletin forums are stored as md5 encrypted hash code, which is pretty infallible. The only people who got 'hacked' are the ones who both registered at the perpetrator's forum and used the same password there as on ESF.

 

[KarrdeKNR]

Easy rule of thumb to add to what people said. Use a combination of upper case and lower case letters, special characters, and numbers and be of decent length. I'd say mine is uncrackable by any brute force method unless they focused on me for a VERY long time.

 

[Tassadar]

One thing that I used to do before I got a trojan was I mixed up my initials, or do every other letter from my last name, with four random easy to remember numbers at the end. One password might have been mksaltn7182. They get easy to remember if you use a mnomic device to remember them. Or you could pronounce it, McSaltin'. Most places only allow you to use letters and numbers, so charecters are usually not able to be used. I would stay away from them anyway.

One other way you could use is think of your favorite thing to do. Mine is playing video games. So you could put in vdogema5234. I generally try to put at least four numbers in my passwords.
But since I got a trojan I use a different method to come up with passwords.

 

[Pieter Paul Rubens]

I usualy use passwords like these: a0962sb2 (this is a fake btw.. I have about 10 combinaitons I use as passwords)

It isn't random since I actually know what it means.

 

[MC]

How often should I change my passwords though? I remember reading somewhere that you should change them periodically.

Also, could I use special characters like the cent sign, broken bar, copyright symbol, etcetera?

 

[DJ-Ready]

if you know how to type them I believe you can.
typing as in alt+number .. like alt+999 = ?

mh, forum cant display that char ... whatever