Have you made sure your password is secure?

- Does it contain at least 10 characters?
- At least 40% of which are numbers?
- There are no dictionary words at all?
- Is just a random mix of numbers and letters?
- You changed it in the last month or two?
- You haven't told anyone it or written it down where someone else may see it?

A lot of people make big mistakes with passwords. They keep the same password for years, never changing it, and put in some dictionary word, so 'they can remember it easily'. I mean OK, partly that's the point, something they can remember, but if you think about it, anyone else can easily remember it too - it's dangerous - there are brute force attackers out there which would easily crack your password within hours if not minutes if it's just a dictionary word.

Passwords are important and should be entirely random and secure and regularly changed. - This is especially important for forums with members that aren't so computer-savvy as you and me, they may not know the full picture of the dangers of insecure passwords, they may not know about brute force attacks.