Create A Strong, Easy To Remember Password

3 Parts:

Instructions

Tips Tricks & Warnings

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With hacking and cracking on the rise it is imperative that everyone uses the strongest password possible. It was once good enough to just have six or eight characters, some numbers, and maybe a special symbol. Today that can be cracked in seconds. For a modern cracker with general purpose hardware p@S5w0rD! is just as easy to crack as password. How do you thwart these attacks, but keep your sanity? Use the steps below to create passwords that are long, complex, but also fairly easy to remember.

Create An "Acronym" Password

1. 1
   Come up with a phrase that means something to you

   .

   A tip would be to make it relevant to the site you are visiting.

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2. 2
   For example; "I always try to buy all my Dan Brown books at Amazon"

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3. 3
   From this you can create the following password Iat2bamDBb@A.

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4. 4
   If you want to make it longer, add some numbers or more symbols

   .

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5. 5
   This password is long enough that very few hackers would attempt to crack it using brute force

   .

   And it is not a dictionary word (or variant of a dictionary word), so it isn't vulnerable to word list attacks.

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Create A "Stub" Password

1. 1
   Find a pattern that you can remember

   .

   It can be anything, but it should appear to be random. This is the stub.

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2. 2
   Then add information to the stub that is unique to the site you are visiting.

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• Example Stub: 01fl72tp
• Then for logging into your email account add EM to the front and @! to the end. EM01fl72tp@!
• Facebook would be Facebook plus #!. FB01fl72tp#!

Create A "String" Password

• This is a variation of the Acronym password.

1. 1
   Come up with a set of words that you can remember, but are not obvious

   .

   (For instance don't use your kids' names. But maybe your grandparents' middle names).

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2. 2
   Add some numbers and special characters

   .

   19Unice&Francis&Jeremiah&Bethany17

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3. 3
   Again, this password is long enough that it will not be found using readily available hacking methods.

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• The key to maintaining security is to vary your passwords from site to site. If a hacker gets your account on one site, they will try it everywhere they can.
• Length is the first protection against anyone cracking your password.
• Complexity is the next defense. The more types of characters you use, the longer it will take to crack your password.
• The stub password is not appropriate for systems that force periodic password changes AND remember history.
• It's okay to use a password manager. Just be sure to do some research about the strength of the software's encryption.
• If you use a password manager, make the master password as long and complex as you can remember. Also, consider storing the password database inside another encrypted file. Giving you two layers of protection.
• Do NOT use any of the example passwords from this article. If a hacker finds this page, they may add them to their word list.

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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