Passwords are part of our daily lives and can at times be frustrating. Creating them and remembering them can be stressful.

But a poor password can cause even more stress if a vulnerable account is accessed by someone else, leading to stolen information, money or even identities.

Advice from the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) includes:

Long is best

Make passwords at least 16 characters. CISA advises “longer is stronger.”

Keep them random

Don’t use passwords based on your personal information. Random passwords can be created with a series of random mixed-case letters, numbers and symbols or by using a “passphrase,” which is a phrase of four to seven unrelated words. A different password should be used for each account.

Use a password manager

Password managers have been developed to reduce the administrative lift of memorizing all your passwords. Some password managers are free and others entail a cost. Password managers can store passwords, let us know when passwords are weak, generate them and automatically fill them in when needed.

Log out

Always log out when using a public computer such as one at a library or the office. Do not use public computers or public WiFi to access sensitive information such as a bank account.