Is there muscle behind your password?

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We all understand the importance of choosing strong passwords. However, what we believe to be a good password may have room for improvement. I am amazed by the simplicity of some individual’s passwords. SecurityStats.com has some good tips when formulating a password. They also offer a scoring program to test various passwords. Per the website, the information sent is not stored.

Another similar tool is Password Meter. This tool provides points based on a variety of factors including length, combination of upper and lower case, symbol usage, etc. It will also deduct points for repeat characters, sequential numbers and letter, etc. The password meter has a “hide” box so that the actual password is not sent over the network.

You might want to test similar variations of your passwords if you are not comfortable using your actual password. However, if your actual password scores poorly, I am sure you will be changing it! One possibility is PCTools, which offers a free password generator. (Choose the “secured version”)