Every account you have online — email, banking, shopping, social media — is protected by a password. If someone figures out your password, they can access your account, steal your money, read your private messages, or pretend to be you.

Criminals don’t sit at a keyboard guessing your password one at a time. They use computer programs that can try millions of combinations per second. Short, simple passwords can be cracked in minutes. A long, strong password can take centuries.

If your password is any of the following, it needs to be changed:

• Your name, spouse’s name, child’s name, or pet’s name
• Your birthday, anniversary, or address
• Simple words like “password,” “welcome,” or “letmein”
• Number patterns like “123456” or “111111”
• The same password you use on another account

Scammers look at your social media to find your family members’ names, birthdays, pet names, and favorite teams. If your password uses this information, they may already have what they need.

Method 1: The Passphrase

Instead of one word, use a short sentence or phrase that’s easy for you to remember but hard for anyone else to guess. The longer the better.

Examples:

• MyDogLoves2ChaseSquirrels!
• I-Drink-Coffee-Every-Morning-at-6
• Grandma.Bakes.The” Best.Pie.44

These are long, include a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols, and are much easier to remember than random characters.

Method 2: The Abbreviation

Take a sentence only you would know and use the first letter of each word, mixing in numbers and symbols.

Example: “I graduated from Lincoln High School in 1972!” becomes IgfLHSi1972!

This creates a password that looks random to everyone else but is simple for you to recall.

Using the same password on multiple accounts is one of the most dangerous things you can do online. Here’s why: if a scammer gets your password from one website that gets hacked, they’ll try that same password on your email, your bank, your Amazon account — everything.

Every account should have its own unique password. This is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself.

A password manager is an app that creates, stores, and fills in strong passwords for you. You only need to remember one master password — the app handles the rest.

How it works:

• You install the app on your phone or computer
• You create one strong master password (use the passphrase method above)
• The app generates and saves a unique, strong password for every website
• When you visit a website, the app fills in your password automatically

Trusted password managers include:

• Apple Passwords — built into every iPhone, iPad, and Mac at no extra cost
• Google Password Manager — built into Chrome and Android devices for free
• Bitwarden — a highly rated free option that works on all devices
• 1Password — a popular paid option with excellent family sharing features

If you don’t want to use an app, writing passwords down in a notebook kept in a safe place at home is far better than reusing the same password everywhere.