Choose A Strong Password

Your password is extremely important.

Never disclose your password(s) to anyone, especially online, not even to the police, your financial institution or your Internet Service Provider. Do not save it to your computer or write it down anywhere.

If someone has your password, he has access to your personal information and can make financial transactions in your name. This is called identity theft.

Choose unique passwords with a combination of letters, numbers and symbols. The following tips will help you choose a password that is hard to guess and easy to remember:

1. Choose a phrase or song title.
2. Take the first two letters of each word.
3. Alternate upper and lowercase letters and replace some with special characters or numbers.

Example: "Remember my password" becomes ReMyP@ (where the "a" is replaced with "@").

Avoid:

• Passwords that are easy to type, such as 123abc or 99999: they are also easy to guess and to see when looking over your shoulder as you enter them.
• Passwords that are easy for others to guess, such as birthdays, family names or telephone numbers.
• Software that 'memorizes' passwords. In general, saving passwords on your computer is not a good idea. It allows anyone with access to your computer to impersonate you.
• The same password as your access code. Thieves usually try this number first.
• A single password for all of your access methods. If a thief gets hold of your password, he'll have access to the other systems or Web sites you use.

Use the Microsoft Canada password checker to see how good your password is.