Helping kids choose safe Internet passwords and user names

What should parents teach kids about choosing usernames and passwords for Internet sites?

Shaun Murphy, CEO of PrivateGiant, a Westchester-based company dedicated to maintaining online privacy, has this advice:

Don't use a real first or last name as a username on any site. Nicknames help kids stay anonymous. Choose something like Fluffycat12 or even a neutral username that doesn't hint of gender -- other users might assume that Fluffycat12, for instance, is a girl.

Don't use the same username on multiple sites, because people can correlate your data. "Cyber criminals use a technique called Doxing, essentially combing the web for snippets of information about a person, to build a full profile they can use to execute crimes like identity theft, scams or other targeted attacks," Murphy says.

Don't use identifying information such as your town, school or street address as part a username or password. Avoid using birth year, which could help others know you are a teen or tween. Also don't use your email address as your username.

The longer the password, the harder it is to guess. "Eight characters is less secure than 12 characters," he says. If it's hard to remember multiple passwords, use a core password and vary it in each site. For instance, make your Facebook password Fbkcoffee53*, and your Instagram password coffee53*Ins, etc. Don't use your real names as part of your password.