List at least four guidelines for creating strong passwords.

What will be an ideal response?

Student responses will vary, but should be drawn from the following information from the text.A good password is easy for you to remember but difficult for criminals and password-breaking software to guess. Use these guidelines to create effective, strong passwords:

• Personal information: Avoid using any part of your first or last name, your family members' names, phone number, street address, license plate number, Social Security number, or birth date.

• Length: Use at least eight characters.

• Difficulty: Use a variety of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols. Select characters located on different parts of the keyboard, not the ones you commonly use or that are adjacent to each other. Criminals use software that converts common words to symbols, so changing the word, two, to the numeral, 2, or the word, and, to the ampersand symbol, &, is not likely to foil a thief.

• Modify: Change the password frequently, at least every three months.

• Variation: Do not use the same password for all accounts. Once criminals have stolen a password, they attempt to use that password for other accounts they find on your computer or mobile device, especially banking websites.

• Passphrase: A passphrase, which is similar to a password, consists of several words separated by spaces. Security experts recommend misspelling a few of the words and adding several numerals. For example, the phrase, "Create a strong password," could become the passphrase, "Creaet a strang pasword42."

• Common sequences: Avoid numbers or letters in easily recognized patterns, such as "asdfjkl;," "12345678," "09870987," or "abcdefg." Also, do not spell words backwards or use common abbreviations.?• Manage: Do not keep your passwords in your wallet, on a sheet of paper near your computer, or in a text file on your computer or mobile device. Memorize all of your passwords, or store them securely using a password management app on your computer or mobile device.

• Test: Use online tools to evaluate password strength.