How to Create a Hacker-Proof Password

Last week, Hotmail was hacked. We know what you're thinking: "Who uses Hotmail anymore?" But, because everything on the interwebs is connected, the password leak spread to Yahoo and Gmail accounts too, so there might have been actual cause for concern.

One thing we learned from this debacle is that most people have really, really, really lame passwords. Like, "123456" lame. So before you run to your email "settings" tab to change your password, think carefully. You'll need something unpredictable and out-of-the-box to protect yourself against scheming hackers.

We dug deep into the corners of our unconventional minds to come up with the following ideas for creating hacker-proof passwords (hopefully, no hackers are reading this):

• Instead of your birthday, use another important personal date, like the day you learned to ride a bike or the day you won the city-wide spelling bee.
• Use your favorite SAT vocab word and your target (or actual, if you've already suffered through it) score.
• Combine the name of your crush and the number of times you've wished you asked him or her out.
• Start with your age in years, then your age in months, and add the zodiac sign that comes after your own.
• Ask one of your parents what their favorite TV show was growing up, and combine that with the year it premiered.
• Use the name of your favorite stuffed animal from childhood that you still have sitting on your bed and the number of years you've had it. Or...
• Use the name of your favorite stuffed animal from childhood that you wish you still had sitting on your bed, only you threw it away after deciding you were "too old" for stuffed animals, a decision you've regretted ever since.
• Google your name and click on the fourth page that comes up. The tenth word on that page is your new password.
• Ask a Magic 8 Ball.
• Use the name of your favorite book and the author's birthday.
• Combine your dream college or university and the name of the dorm you'd like to live in.
• Take your go-to music album or song, along with the number of members in the band.
• Use the last name of the author of your math textbook and combine it with the chapter you hated most.
• Tell your parents you're thinking about dropping out of school because life experience is the only education you need. Use the first two words of their reaction along with the number of minutes you laughed at how angry they got.
• Use the name of your favorite fictional character. Use this person's first, last, and middle names if you know them.
• Use your dentist's name and the number of months it's been since your last visit.
• Combine the name of your favorite relative with his or her birthday.
• Take the name of your favorite Sparklife writer and combine it with the date of your favorite post (Note: This may require that you reread the last few months of SparkLife posts. But, hey, this is for your own protection!).

Have you ever had your password hacked? How do you come up with fail-safe passwords?

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