Email Password Security
December 23, 2008 by tracy · Comments Off
As hard as Live Oak tries to keep our servers secure from hackers and spammers, we are not able to oversee the passwords that our users select for their log-ins and email.
As a result, our servers are sometimes compromised by spammers able to guess our users’ email passwords. Bear in mind that if your email address gets compromised, you run the risk of exceeding your bandwidth, which can cost you or your company over-limit fees.
The most common guessable passwords are:
123abc
abc123
12345
54321
password
nopassword
However, they can also include words available in any standard dictionary. If you or any of your domain’s users have selected passwords that fit into this category, we recommend updating your passwords to something more secure.
The key is to create a password that you can easily remember, but is hard for someone else to guess. Below are some simple tips on creating more secure passwords for all our users.
- The longeryourpassword, the better.
- Always throw in some numb3rs, $ymb0ls, and/or punc.tua_tion marks.
- Mix cApItaL leTTerS with lowErcAsE.
- Create an acronym from a familiar phrase. An example would be to take a phrase “I live on 32nd street” and turn it into iL032st.
- Change your password often and don’t use the same password for all your log-ins.
Use a combination of the above methods and you should wind up with a secure password to thwart pesky hackers and spammers.