How to create a 'hacker-proof' password

More than 90% of passwords used by internet users could be vulnerable to hackers, according to research by consultancy firm Deloitte.

Bad habits such as re-using passwords mean that many passwords can be cracked simply - giving hackers a 'back door' into accounts.

When people create a password of ‘mixed’ capitals, numbers and letters, it often follows a pattern - with capitals at the start and numbers at the end.

This makes passwords easy for criminals to guess - with a recent study of six million passwords showing that 10,000 guesses could have unlocked 98.1% of them.

Because passwords with mixtures of numbers and letters are hard to remember, people also tend to reuse them - with the average person owning 26 online accounts with just five passwords.

But there are techniques which help normal people to remember passwords for dozens of sites easily - and thus keep their private data safe.

“Strong passwords are a necessity for online safety,” says a spokesman for PC security expert Norton by Symantec.

“Always, use upper and lower case letters, numbers, and a special character such as asterisks in your passwords - don’t use your pets’ name unless you’ve named them 80l7*ck2.”

“A good tip is to pick a single master password that you’ll be able to remember, and then customise that password for different websites. The first step is to choose a good master password that uses more than six characters and some combination of letters and numbers (rather than real words).

“For example, let’s use the phrase “My dog is called Rex”. Reduce that phrase to each of the first letters, and you’ll end up with “mdicr”.

“To make this even more complex, you could then add the first and last letter of the website to it (Amazon’s website would be: “AmdicrN”). This little trick helps you to remember all those various passwords and yet keep things complex enough that it’s hard for a computer hacker to crack. This sequence makes sense to only you and not anyone else.”

“The biggest mistake anyone can make, however, is using the same password for each account as it makes you more vulnerable should a cyber-attack occur. Therefore not only having multiple passwords is a must in cyberspace, but it’s also important to make them strong and change them regularly.”