We are leaving ourselves open to identity fraud online because of the passwords we use, says a campaign group. Passwords that are easy to remember often means easy to guess and hard to guess often means hard to remember. Problems include using passwords that are easy to guess and using the same one all the time. So what makes a good password? It’s all about having a difficult word and a good system, say experts. Never use a word that is in the dictionary, says Ken Munro, managing director of SecureTest. Online fraudsters have written programs that can try thousands of different passwords and try every word in the dictionary. You can mix upper and lower case and throw in random symbols, like a dollar sign. A good suggestion is to use a phrase you can easily remember. A good password will mix letters, numbers and punctuation, but the strongest contain non-alphanumeric characters or symbols. The longer a password is the harder it is to crack, not the consecutive keys on the keyboard. QWERTY is a regular on lists of most-popular passwords, just look at your keyboard to find out why. The other essential when it comes to protecting your personal details is also having a good user name. People tend to just use their names, which is leaves them vulnerable.