How to create a secure password

It's important to keep your account secure. Always make sure you follow your organisation's policy regarding password usage. Here are some common tips to help you create a strong password.

Always keep your passwords to yourself. Never share them with friends, family or colleagues, and never write them down anywhere.

Don't use the same password for all your accounts. This makes it really easy for hackers to gain access to everything. Mix it up and use different passwords for each website or service you use. If one account is targeted by hackers, your other accounts will remain safe.

Make your passwords memorable by using a pass phrase. This is a relatively long phrase made up of seemingly random words. Here's an example that uses upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters:

Try not to use common quotes or famous song lyrics, as these can be easily guessed.

Using at least one of each character type will make it increasingly harder for hackers to guess your password. Use letters in both uppercase and lowercase e.g. AaBbCc, random numbers e.g. 3412 (don't use 1234 as this is really easy to guess) and special characters such as !@*&£$

The more characters you include, the harder it becomes for hackers to guess your password.

Services such as NordPass or OnePassword can help you generate long, secure passwords, and also safely store them for you meaning you never have to remember what the passwords are.