It seems like we all have difficulty coming up with truly strong, memorable passwords. It might seem like a good idea to use your pet’s name or a family member’s birthday that you can easily remember, but that information isn’t necessarily private considering it can likely be found on social media. This makes you an easy target for hackers.
The user password managers that you often come across when setting up an account work with all devices and can generate unguessable passwords to protect you. However, it’s a lot harder to remember a complex password like ‘3e’Zt./5#KbXs&%:P<MV(v4l,’ so how do you create a strong and protected password that you can remember? We are here to break it down for you! There are a couple of different methods we suggest using to help create a password that protects you.
In his article, found on the website PCMag, Neil Rubenking shares a few tricks to make the daunting task of creating a strong password seem a little simpler.
Make it Poetic.
Try taking your favorite song or verse and using it as your password. This can be done by writing down the first letter of each syllable, using capital letters for stressed syllables, and keeping the punctuation. For example, let’s take the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Based on this strategy, ‘Wlgyl,ml.’ will be your new password. Adding any memorable information to the end, such as the year the quote or lyric was made, is an additional criteria to help make the password even stronger.
Use a Phrase.
Using all four types of characters (uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and symbols) makes it harder for attackers to get your information. The more characters you add, the stronger your password becomes. Start with a common word and replace some of the letters with similar-looking numbers. You can tack on extra characters to lengthen your password. It is important to note that not all master passwords allow for the use of spaces, so hyphenating is a good way to keep your passwords consistent. For example, the words “Sunday rainy showers” will turn into ‘Sund&y-Ra1ny-Sh0w3r$.’
Try out these tips for yourself to ensure that your information stays protected. Remember that the more complex you can make it, the less chance there is for hackers to gain access to your information. You can analyze any passwords at the website, Search Space Calculator. Based on the character types used and the overall length, this tool will calculate the estimated amount of time a brute force attack would take to crack the given password, making it a good tool to help craft your next password.