Pay attention: we hear from John Carter who advises we seriously consider ten reasons why we need different Internet account passwords and change them often.
1. There are groups (Anonymous, AntiSec, LulzSec) whose sole purpose is to raid the security of large corporations (Sony is an example) just to prove it can be done and to demonstrate to the public why it is important to not have the same password for every account you have on the Internet.
2. Changing all your passwords every month - even by one letter, number, or symbol - is an effective way to protect your accounts on the Internet.
3. Use a password that contains a minimum of 8 characters (15 is recommended as a strong password) with at least one uppercase, one number, and one symbol (where allowed).
4. If symbols are not allowed in a password (as happens with some sites) increase the password length to at least 10 characters.
5. If a site does not allow symbols and does not allow up to 10 characters in a password it would be best to leave that site alone.
6. Never use a password that makes any sense at all, such as P0pp1 (read as Poppy or Popeye) and avoid repeating characters (as in this example).
7. Use a password generator when at all possible.
8. Keep a written log of all your passwords and keep it updated as passwords change. This is your only hope of remembering them.
9. If you insist on keeping passwords on your computer, such as the Mac Keychain Access or a Password Manager in Windows, then use a strong password to access it, and not like any other password that you use.
10. Repeat #1 through #9 until you get the message.
Thanks, John, for reminding us!