Passwords, so many passwords!

With almost everything being online these days, we all have to come up with and remember so many passwords these days. It can be challenging to create passwords that are both secure, but also memorable, no point in having a secure password if you can't remmeber it of course.

In this blog our cybersecurity instructors have put together some great, simplified tips on how best to create unique and strong passwords.

Creating a password

When devising a password, try to come up with a structure that is easily remembered and can be changed easily. The structure should always result in a long and complex password, the longer and more complex it is the harder and longer for an attempt to guess your password by hackers even using digital means.

Some ideas for password structures

• Use 3 or more random words is a good way to create a strong, unique password that you will remember.
• Use a line of a song, quote or book that you will remember.
• Add numbers and or symbols to the end or start of the password to help improve the complexity or maintain that it being memorable.
• Mix it up where you can using upper and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols.

Best practices

What not to do when create passwords

• Use your username.
• Use family or pet names.
• Use personal dates, birthdays, anniversaries.
• Use the same password for multiple accounts.

Avoid these practices

Check how common your password is

When you are making your password, you can check to see if it is one commonly used and how long it would take to hack using the below sites:

• Check if it is one that is commonly used before:
  https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords

Have I Been Pwned keeps a record over 600 million passwords preciously exposed in hack and is a easy to check how common yours is.

Check how secure your password is

Check how long it would take to guess by cycling through possible combinations:

Here are some examples to check yourself using the above sites, check if they are used before and how long to hack using the above sites:

• du1g@m4n
• awishuponastar
• AWishUponAStar!

Top Tip:
Save your passwords in your device or browser, these will then only show for the sites they where originally meant for.