Is your password on this list? Must read tips for safe passwords
Passwords are the keys to our online lives. We need to keep them safe from prying eyes and identity thieves. Here are a few tips for creating secure passwords.
First, don’t use any of the most common passwords. This seems obvious, right? But there have been studies looking at the passwords used by people, and these lists have been 
published. These passwords are easy to remember and quick to type, but they are also known to security professionals and identity thieves. Anyone trying to guess your password will be very likely to try these first. So, protect yourself and don’t be tempted to use any of these.
Words that are unique to you, and potentially known to hackers should be avoided. It’s fun to have your password to be your high-school nickname, your dog’s name, kid’s birthday, or your favorite baseball team. But, remember with social networking sites like Facebook, this information is more than likely to be available on the internet.
Make your password hard to guess. Passwords should have a mix of upper and lower case letters, some numbers, and the longer the better. In QuickBooks Online, we require passwords that are at least 6 characters long, but longer is better. If it’s a bit hard for you to remember, those hackers will have a heck of a time.
Going even further than avoiding words about you, or on the common password list, it’s even safer to avoid words completely. Random characters or mis-spelled words are better, as they make it much harder for password guessing algorithms to work.
One tip for making a seemingly random sequence of letters, but be a bit more memorable, is to use the first letter from each word of a phrase. For example, “To be, or not to be, that is the question” would turn into “Tbontbtitq”.
We’ve added a tool in QuickBooks Online to help you measure the strength of the password you’ve chosen. It’s a gauge of 5 dots that appear right below the password field in the change password page. All dots are off until you have a minimally acceptable password, and will increase as the the strength of your password increases. More dots means a more secure password.
The following video shows how to change your password in QuickBooks Online.
John Ruberto
About Me: I’m part of the QuickBooks Online Quality team. When I’m not testing the best small business accounting online service, you might find me on my favorite trout stream.
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May 12, 2010 at 5:12 am
John thank you. How do you change your login name ?
May 12, 2010 at 7:14 am
No, my password is not on the list.
May 13, 2010 at 11:29 am
My password isn’t on that list. My pass word is bocaJ10 – can you tell me if that’s a good password?
(just kidding!)
May 12, 2011 at 10:36 am
hhhhhh is good
May 14, 2010 at 1:44 am
My password is NOT on that list!
June 9, 2010 at 11:17 am
My password is not on that list either! I don’t think people realize that there are programs running throughout the world that just try to hack your passwords. Bots or something they call them. I like it when software gives you a “Generate Password” option that is complex with #$% special characters too. Otherwise I fall into the trap of making all my passwords similar.
August 20, 2010 at 6:30 am
I know someone who purchased quickbooks but is concerned about putting personal bank information into it because if quickbooks does such a good job of checking the computer whether to see if an update is needed or not what is to stop them from opening up the appropriate file and looking at his personal information.
How can I reassure him that this is not so?
September 23, 2010 at 7:22 pm
I found this information very interesting and I may change my password for my companies.