I read an article recently that listed the worst passwords. As you can expect there were a lot of passwords that listed ‘123’ or ‘321’ as part of their makeup.

‘Superman’ and ‘monkey’ are apparently used quite frequently by individuals as their personal password; so frequently in fact that they are two of the combinations that hackers know to try when working to gain access to accounts. I love it that people think of monkeys when creating their personal passwords.

I’ve created elaborate lists of obscure letter, number and symbol combinations. My password storage system of choice is a stack of 3 x 5 cards held together with an “O” ring. Each card has one password and they are listed alphabetically by site.

I have perfected the art of ridiculously long and elaborate passwords. Routinely I lock myself out of my online accounts due to the complexity of the keys I must type in. That’s not always such a bad thing. Online shopping can be too easy, so having to always find my password book and then type in my PayPal password has saved us a little money.

Save money, thwart hackers, confound your spouse and add a another level of frustration to your already hectic day: make sure your passwords are long, nonsensical, completely ridiculous and never mention monkeys!