Check Your Password Strength with The Password Meter

Strong passwords are crucial for protecting your data, your privacy, and quite possibly your very life. (Maybe I'm overstating things a bit.) But how do you know if your password is strong enough? Head to The Password Meter, a free service that rates the strength of your password based on a number of criteria.

Just type or paste your password for instant feedback. The site produces a score based on things like number of characters, use of uppercase and lowercase letters, inclusion of symbols, and so on. Deductions are taken if you use consecutive or sequential letters or numbers and things like that.

Very enlightening! Turns out most of the passwords I use barely crack the 50% mark. Check your own password(s) and report your scores in the Comments. I'll wager that most of you have passwords at least as weak as mine. (If so, consider using a site like Password Generator to create super-strong passwords.) [via Download Squad]