As more and more services and applications move to the “cloud”, keeping your private information secure is becoming ever more important.  One of the most crucial issues involved with online security is using strong passwords.  I’ve known many people who make regular use of very weak passwords.  I’ve seen people use their own names, the names of children and pets, birthdays, even “password”.  Anything that could easily be guessed by someone with a little bit of knowledge or research about you doesn’t make a good password.  The best passwords are random combinations of letters (upper- and lower-case), numbers, and symbols.  Unfortunately, those sorts of passwords are very difficult to remember, leading many people to write them down, which negates the point of having a strong password.  A great tool to simplify the selection of a strong password (and ensure you can remember it later) is Your PasswordCard.

Your PasswordCard is a very handy tool.  It creates a wallet-sized card of random symbols, numbers, and letters that you can cut out and put in your wallet or purse.  The beauty of the card, though, is that even if someone else were to obtain it, they still wouldn’t know your passwords.  Across the top of the card is a row of symbols not normal usable in passwords.  Underneath that are rows of letters and numbers (normal symbols can optionally be included).  Each of these rows has an unique color.  To create a password you first pick a length (8 characters is the recommendation).  Then, you choose a symbol from the top row and a color.  You then go to the character in the row of your chosen color beneath the symbol you selected, and choose a direction.  It could be up, down, left, right, or even diagonal.  Follow that direction for your chosen length, and you have your password.  Even if someone else has your card, they will not be able to recreate your password without knowing your symbol, color, length, and direction.

The site creates a random card with each visit, but it does provide you with a string of characters that is the “seed” of your card.  If you enter that seed on the site, it will recreate your card.  My suggestion is that you print two copies of the card and put one in a safe place as a backup.  This is the easiest tool I’ve seen to create strong passwords.

Your PasswordCard is free to use (the creators do take donations, though).  You will need a computer or smartphone with an Internet connection to access the site.  An app for Android phones is also available.