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Article from MacHacking.net Knowledge Base: http://kb.machacking.net

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Title: Creating strong password in OS X
Author: macosxhints.com
Author Contact: macosxhints.com
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Creating strong password in OS X (reprinted from MacOSX Hints)
                                                
OS X brings a new requirement that every user of the system (even if they're the only user of the system) have a password. Although it's tempting to make your password as easy to remember as possible, that's not necessarily the best plan, especially if you have a full time Internet connection. Here are some tips to creating a strong password on any system, with some specific info on OS X.                                                 

In case you were not aware, OS X has a limit of eight characters for login passwords. This is not a "hard limit" (ie you can keep typing after eight characters), but rather, a "soft limit". OS X will only pay attention to the first eight characters of your password; anything beyond that is ignored. So even though you think "pastrami3tZ8n" is a secure password, it's really just the word "pastrami", which isn't secure at all.                                                 

For the most secure OS X password possible, you should:
                                                                                                        
Use a long password, up to eight characters, but don't bother going over that. A reader on the X4U mailing list pointed out that many cracking algorithms start at eight characters, as this has been an upper limit in UNIX for quite a while. So use what you're comfortable with, but in general, longer should be better.                                                         
Mix numbers and letters.                                                          
Mix upper and lower case.                                                         
Do not use dictionary words.                                                         
Do not use 'familiar' words such as the names of pets, kids, or other relatives, birthdates, anniversaries, etc.                                                         
Do not use the same password on your machine that you use online; most online web passwords are not encrypted, and can be intercepted.                                                          
Plan on changing your password regularly; change the length and mix of characters; don't just change the ending digit (ie don't go password1, password2, password3, etc.).                                                  
                                              
I realize this is truly basic information, but with so many people now having full-time internet connections, the importance of a good password cannot be understated!

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Article from MacHacking.net Knowledge Base: http://kb.machacking.net