Authentication is nothing but the process of validating the user, ensuring that you are who you say you are. There are different approaches towards authentication.

These are broadly classifed into three catagories, something

• What you know (Passwords, and passphrases)
• what you have (Smartcards, proximity cards)
• what you are (Biometric)

A strong authentication mechanism shall make use of more than one solutions from above like a finger print and a password.

In this session I am putting my effort to share my views on selecting the passwords and securing them. Certain Don.ts and Do.s in password usage

What Not to Use

• Don.t use your login name in any form (as-is, reversed, capitalized, doubled, etc.).
• Don.t use your first or last name in any form.
• Don.t use use your spouse.s or child.s name.
• Don.t use other information easily obtained about you. This includes license plate numbers, telephone numbers, social security numbers, the brand of your automobile, the name of the street you live on, etc.
• Don.t use a password of all digits, or all the same letter. This significantly decreases the search time for a cracker.
• Don.t use a word contained in (English or foreign language) dictionaries, spelling lists, or other lists of words.
• Don.t use a password shorter than six characters.
• Don.t share your password with anyone

What to Use

• Do use a password with mixed-case alphabetic characters.
• Do use a password with nonalphabetic characters, e.g., digits or punctuation.
• Do use a password that is easy to remember, so you don.t have to write it down.
• Do use a password that you can type quickly, without having to look at the keyboard. This makes it harder for someone to steal your password by watching over your shoulder.
• Method to Choose Secure and Easy to Remember Passwords ( Yes you have to remember the password and should not write down the same anywhere)

Replace the alphabets of letters with similar special charectors or numerics Eg: .Information. shall be reconsidered as .1nf0rMat10N.

Choose a line or two from a song or poem, and use the first letter of each word. Eg: .I am sitting in the boaring room !. can be written like this .1aSItbR!.

Ok these are just examples.. keep on making yourself and dont use any of these