A Guide to Creating a Strong Password That You Can Remember
Today, everyone has digital accounts of some kind, whether it’s an email address, a social media profile or a user account for a website or app. If you have any kind of online presence, you probably also have at least one password to access that account. In today’s world, this simple string of letters and numbers is your first line of defense against hackers and identity thieves. That’s why it’s important to make sure that your passwords are strong enough to fend off would-be intruders. Password strength is measured by how difficult it is for someone to crack your password if they were trying to figure out what it was. To do this, we use something called a “strength meter” which assigns a score between 1 and 100 based on how secure the password is.
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What Makes a Strong Password?
If your password is strong, it means that it is resistant to dictionary attacks and brute-force attacks. That means it contains a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. A strong password also contains at least 10 characters. Since there’s no golden rule for what constitutes a “strong” password, you’ll want to use a combination of factors. The different factors used in a password add up to make it stronger, but they also make it more difficult to remember. If you are able to remember your password without writing it down, then it’s too simple and not as secure as it could be. The trick is to strike the right balance between complexity and memorability. That way, you can create a password that’s both secure and easy to recall. Password strength can also be measured by the amount of time it would take to crack a password. The longer it takes to crack a password, the stronger it is.
Longer Is Not Always Better
Most experts agree that a password should be at least 10 characters long. But that doesn’t mean that you should use a 100-character password even though it’s “stronger.” The problem with creating very long passwords is that they become difficult to remember. If you have to keep your password written down to be able to access your account, then it’s not serving its main purpose. Plus, most websites don’t allow you to use long passwords. If you can make it 10 characters long while still keeping it memorable, then you’re probably doing just fine.
Don’t Use Simple Dictionary Words
If you choose words from a dictionary as part of your password, attackers can easily guess it. So if you want a secure, hard-to-crack password, don’t use dictionary words. People who want to crack your password can easily download lists of the most common passwords. They might even use automated software to try out a full dictionary of passwords against your account. Passwords like “password,” “12345,” “letmein,” “welcome,” “love,” “sex,” “myname,” “diamond,” “sunshine,” “beauty,” “freedom,” “flower,” “magic,” “money,” “passion,” “money,” “kiss,” “music,” and “kiss” are all extremely weak. They’re not only easy to guess, but they’re also very common. Your goal is to create a password that’s unique and secure. So don’t use any of the words in the above list.
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Add Some Characters and Numbers
A lot of people think that adding numbers to the end of a word (e.g., “love” to “love4Ever”) or adding a number to the beginning of a word (e.g., “ever” to “4ever”) is a good way to make a password stronger. That might have been true years ago, but it’s no longer the case. Most websites have moved beyond those kinds of simple “rules” to protect user accounts. Nowadays, you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck by using a variety of characters in your password. Make sure you include at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character. That will make your password much stronger than if you only had a mix of numbers and letters.
Make It Easy For You To Remember by “telling” a story
If you want a password that’s easy to remember and extremely hard to crack, try our favorite trick: the story method. We’re not talking about creating a fake story to remember your password, but instead using something that’s already in your head to create a super-strong password. There are a few ways to do this. One way is to start with the beginning of a sentence that you’re already familiar with. For example, you could use the first few words of a Dr. Seuss poem like “Bright Bright Great Great” or the first line of a popular song like “The Book of Love – Peter Gabriel.” You could also use a short quote from one of your favorite books or movies or even a line from your own life. Once you know the beginning of your sentence or story, you can use your imagination to fill in the rest. You can add characters and settings to create a story that’s unique to you and your password.
An example of this method that I like to use is: I’m making a Fake pass word in 22! (ImaFpwi22!). Now when I go to remember the password I just have to repeat that “story” to remember my password
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When it comes to passwords, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Strong passwords help protect your personal information by making it difficult for hackers to decrypt and access it. When creating a password, remember to avoid obvious choices and make it long enough that it takes a while to crack. Keep in mind that every account you have will have different password requirements—and some will have stronger requirements than others. So the key is to come up with a strong password that’s still simple enough to remember. Once you’ve created a strong password, it’s important to keep it somewhere safe so you don’t forget it.