Strong passwords are those that are difficult to guess and are difficult to crack using widely available software. Here are some techniques for building a strong and memorable password.

• Two or three unrelated short words connected with a special character, e.g. Ugly%Duck
• Chose a word and substitute special characters and/or numbers for some letters, e.g. impossible = Im%o$$Ible
• Chose a line from a song or poem and use first letter of each word with some various capitalization pattern, e.g. Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away = @YaMtSoFa$
• Phonetically spell or misspell two or three words, e.g. Polece$chaZ
• Make your password at least 8 characters in length. Longer passwords are more difficult to hack.
• Don't use any part of your actual name or the user name you use to log in to your account
• Make sure you include different characters when creating a password. Try to fit all four types:
• Lower case a-z
• Upper case A-Z
• Numbers 0-9
• Special characters, e.g. $#@!%^&()+-

Other Tips:
Pay attention to general state of your account and/or system. If something has changed or appears different, change your password and investigate the situation.

Try to remember that your account/password is your responsibility, and any activity performed while you or someone else has logged in with them is your responsibility.

Examples of complex passwords:

• Wwe&nadtd
• w3KfOr3691
• mkrB8g$p

I know what you're thinking: "Wait a minute - How am I supposed to remember that?"

Mnemonics

• Take a phrase that is easy for you to remember and convert it into characters.
• It could be the first line of a poem or a song lyric.
• "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink" (Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner) converts to Wwe&nadtd.
• “We Three Kings from Orient Are” converts to w3KfOr3691.
  (3691 is the year 1963 spelled backward to extend beyond eight characters.)

How to Change your Net ID Password