How to create a strong password

Whether you’re buying or selling on carsales, it’s important to keep your account and personal details secure. The password you choose is your first line of defence against potential scammers and threats online. Here are some tips to help create a strong password.

1. Choose something unique

Many of us have multiple online accounts with different services and it’s often tempting to use the same password across all of them. For your safety, it’s important to use a different password for each of your accounts. Re-using passwords can be a huge risk - if someone was to figure out your password they could access all your important accounts and personal information.

2. Use a combination of letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers and symbols

To help make your password strong and unique, never include your first name and surname and avoid using complete words. The longer the password the better and always use a range of letters, numbers and symbols – where possible swap out the letters in known words with numbers or symbols (e.g. C@rs@l3s) or better still use a truly random  password.  

Visit Password Strength Meter to test your password and see how long it would take a hacker to crack it.

3. Change your password frequently

By regularly changing your password, you can ensure that if someone has managed to gain access into your account, it will only be temporary.

4. Keep your password safe

Never share your password with anyone – it’s important to keep this information to yourself only. Also, avoid writing your password down and leaving it near your computer or desk. If you do need to write down your password to help you remember it, make sure you keep the written copy somewhere safe and as far away from your computer or laptop as possible.

5. Use a Password Manager

The best way to make sure that all your passwords are unique and complex is to use a password manager. A password manager stores the passwords for your various online accounts and profiles and saves you from having to remember and enter each one each time you visit a password-protected site. Instead, your passwords are encrypted and held by your password manager, which you then protect with a master password. Since you are saved from having to remember all of your passwords, you will be less tempted by the dangerously poor idea of using the same password for all of your accounts.

With a password manager (for example LastPass 3.0, 1Password, Dashlane 2.0, Keeper 5.0 or RoboForm 7) you can create strong passwords for all of your accounts and keep all of those passwords saved behind a stronger master password, meaning you only need to remember one strong password.