Passwords are, without a doubt, the perferred method of online security by online blogs, portals, e-commerce sites and just about anything else. For the most part, this is a good system. But, like all security systems, there is a point of possible disclosure, and it lies with you, the password creator, manager and holder. There are tricks to managing passwords, and free software programs to make managing passwords simple and I’ll show you some of them, right now…

The problem

You are expected to make a secure password for each site you visit, that’s a lot of responsibility for one person to manage, and because of that many people choose easy passwords or use the same passwords over and over, almost begging for trouble.

Many people choose easy passwords or use the same passwords over and over, almost begging for trouble

The fact is, if you don’t choose the best possible password, the security provided by it slowly decreases to none. In an ideal world, you would have a completely unique and random password for each site. Unfortunately, remembering such a large number of passwords would be nearly impossible, and that’s where some unique tricks and tools come in to help you keep your data private, and keep the bad guys out.

Site zoning

Site zoning is where you decide what sites require what type of security depending on what type of content the password accesses. You’d have “low” for logging on to blogs (other than your own) and most portals; “medium” for things like IRC nickserv; “high” for things like your own blog, web hosting, site administration and online auction sites; and lastly, you’d have an “extreme” level for online banking, credit cards, ebay and your primary email account.

Why place such protection on your email account you ask? Well, many sites will email you your password back, or allow you to recover your password by sending it, or a new password back to your email. So, once someone gains access to your email account, they can pose as you on almost any website your email is connected to.

Site zoning lets you use simpler passwords for the “low” level and increasingly complex passwords up to the “extreme” level. Many people do this without really thinking about it, although if you’re not and you don’t want to use a more secure password database with random passwords (both explained below), you should consider using a system like this to give yourself at least a good security foundation.

Password hashing

Password hashing allows you to use one master password and then modify that password for each site you visit. A password hash can be, in simplest cases, just pieces of the site’s URL mixed in with a password at certain points. For example, you can place one letter of the URL in place of every other letter in your password.

Other more complex uses of password hashing such as the ones employed by PasswordMaker (described in more detail below) allow you to use complex mathematical equations to make sure that each password is completely unique and that the site’s owner can’t find your master password by seeing one or more of your created passwords.