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This article covers why it is EXTREMELY important to have a long and hard to guess password for your control panel, email addresses and any scripts you use on your site.

Not only should this apply to your log ins at 2001 web but you should apply the following principals to any web password where sensitive data is stored for example Paypal accounts, Google checkout accounts etc.

Why you need a really good password.

In a word "hackers". It is a sad fact of internet life that some people we refer to generally as hackers love to try to access password protected areas on any site. Some hackers just do it for the challenge, some of them do it to upload spamming scripts to your web hosting space and the worst kind do it to gain access and destroy a site or an entire server. You must remember that it is not just your site that resides on our server there are many other businesses there too, therefore we have a common responsibility to each other to make sure ALL our passwords are strong.

How Hackers try To Guess Your Passwords

They don't! They have programs that do it for them called password bombers. What these programs do is send hundreds of combinations of common usernames and passwords at either your program login pages or worse your hosting control panel.If the bomber gets access to the site via any login to admin areas it will immediately inform the hacker it has gained access and heaven help your site then.

Of course we do have security in place on the server to protect your main hosting control panel, after three failed log in attempts your whole IP address will be banned from accessing the server for an hour. This is generally enough to put most hackers off when they get locked out but some will try repeatedly so best to have a great password just in case.

So what makes a good password?

Many people believe that a long password is a good one , not always. Your password should NOT be made up of words you would find in a dictionary or names and it should contain ALL the following:

1. UPPER CASE LETTERS
2. lower case letters
3. Num83rs
4. Special characters that are not numbers or letters.

It should also ideally be at least 9 characters long using the above rules.

Here is an example of a great password

*fS1955jS1956!

Now you are probably thinking "How the hell do I remember that?"  Simple that password has a formula, really the only thing you need to remember is that the password starts with an asterisk and finishes with an exclamation mark as for the rest of it EASY... when you know how.

fs = Your name Fred Smith ( your first initial in lower case and your Surname initial in caps.)

1955 = your birth year

jS = You got it your partners name Jenny Smith. Again first name initial small letters surname initial in CAPS

1956= OF course its your partners birth year

All of a sudden that password doesn't look so complicated does it?

Examples of WEAK PASSWORDS

Further to the above here are some very bad passwords that would be worked out in no time by a password bomber

jeff1969

chri5ti4n

mysiteisthebestintheworld

45856369846396987545

Check your passwords now for free

Below is link to a handy tool at microsoft for checking the strength of the passwords you use. You are aiming for the indicator to show the word "BEST" Take some time and update your passwords for your Cpanel, your websites admin and your email addresses and ensure that hackers don't ruin your day and cost you money having your site reinstalled.

Check The Strength Of Your Passwords Click Here Link opens in new window.

Cheat

The best policy of all is to have different passwords for different sites. NO WAY you shout I would never remember them, the good news is you don't have to read our article on robo form for a great way to protect and remember all your passwords.

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