How Not To Get Hacked: Passwords

My name is Emily Schecter, and I'm a product manager for the Chrome Browser security team at Google. I work with the team of designers and engineers and researchers to build new security features into Chrome. Hackers don't break in. They sign in. Passwords are one of the most common ways we can protect our information, and we need to make sure they’re as strong and secure as possible. Step one in protecting yourself is to always create a strong password. The longer, the better. Each additional character you add increases the amount of time for a hacker to guess your password. You can also use longer memorable pass phrases like the lyrics of a song you like or short quote. Avoid names, common words and phrases, or sequential numbers like one, two, three. Don't use your important personal information such as your birthday or other personal identification numbers to keep your passwords secure. Don't share them, not even with family or friends. Try to create a unique password for each of your accounts so if someone does get a hold of your password, they can only use it in one place. Don't write down passwords where someone else could find them. Instead, sign up for a trustworthy password manager to help you maintain multiple strong passwords. It will remember usernames and passwords for you and secure them behind a master password. While we hope to see more widespread use of other more advanced security options such as multi-factor authentication, we still need to do our best to strengthen and protect our passwords.