Question

Question 4 of 5

When choosing a new password, what's the best advice you can give your
students?
O Choose the next consecutive number from your old password
O Pick something easy to remember such as your birthday or pet's name
Add a number or special character at the end of your old password
O Create a new and different passphrase that is easy for you to remember

Answer 1

When advising your students on selecting a new password, the best recommendation is;

• to create a new and distinct passphrase.

Why?

The passphrase should be a sentence or phrase that is easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. Other options are not conducive to password security. Appending a number or special character to the end of your old password does not significantly alter the password and leaves it vulnerable to brute-force attacks.

Passwords containing personal information such as your date of birth or your pet's name can be easily cracked by cybercriminals or obtained through social engineering. Choosing the next consecutive number from your old password makes it overly susceptible to guessing and compromises the security of your account.

What is the weakness of other options?

Choosing the next consecutive number from your old password will make it easier to crack if you already have a known password.

Adding special characters at the end of your password increases the strength of your password, but you should not do this on your old password. This step is very important when setting a new password.