April 6, 2012
Most of us know that we need to pick a password that is harder to predict than password or abc123, but how do you choose a password that is both hard to predict yet easy to remember?
We don’t know about you, but our team of Productivity Consultants at Innovatively Organized got into a conversation recently where we realized that we all have a hard time remembering complicated random passwords. Plus, do you really want to type out G&6d4*V#f2z every day to check your email?
An easy trick to improve your passwords is to replace words with random characters like this: Ch@ract3r$.
But let’s do the math: that’s only 10 characters, it’s a common dictionary word, and since we can probably assume that hackers have heard of this trick, it’s possible they’ve written algorithms complex enough to eventually guess this password. And, you’d still have to remember which “a” was substituted with “@.”
Here’s what we suggest:
• String random words together
• Capital the first letter of each word
• Add some numbers (beginning, middle, or end)
• The longer the better, with a variety of numbers, letters, and symbols
Some examples to get you started:
• MyDogEats42?Slugs
• Chased!By86MaroonStaplers
Or try the multiple word method:
• Use a longer phrase that is easy to remember (like a song, poem, or quote)
• Use the first letter from each word to string into a password.
Example: Using the song “I’m A Little Tea Pot Short and Stout. Here Is My Handle, Here Is My Spout.” Creates: IALTPSASHIMHHIMS.
Hard to guess but easy to remember!
