Best Practices for Creating Strong Passwords You’ll Remember

Making sure your password is strong yet memorable can be challenging and stressful. However, following best practices – like using passphrases, incorporating acronyms and relying on a password manager – will ensure your passwords are strong and safe. A strong password should contain at least 16 characters, with a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Never use common phrases or personal information in your passwords, as these can be easily guessed by cybercriminals. Also, do not reuse the same passwords across multiple accounts because they can become compromised due to poor password practices.

Continue reading to learn the best practices for creating strong and memorable passwords.

1. Use passphrases

Passphrases are made up of multiple unrelated words, making them longer than typical passwords. The longer your password is, the harder it is for a cybercriminal to crack. Since passphrases are random words rather than random letters, numbers and symbols, they are easier to remember and provide more security benefits than a normal password due to their length and complexity.

You can create a strong passphrase by including a combination of words that have uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, but make sure the words you use are completely random. For example, if you enjoy going to the beach and create a passphrase using words related to the beach (ocean, dolphin, sunshine, etc.), those words are not completely random, making the passphrase unsafe. A strong passphrase could look like this: Mixture-Pie-Met-State-Planning6. None of these words have anything in common, and this passphrase also includes a variety of characters and symbols separating the words.

2. Incorporate acronyms

Remember when you needed to learn a complex subject or study for an exam? You probably used an acronym to help you remember a concept. Acronyms are still useful when it comes to creating strong and memorable passwords. To incorporate acronyms into your password creation process, think of a sentence or phrase that holds meaning for you. Take the first letter of each word and turn it into a password, but don’t forget to still include numbers and symbols.

Let’s create a strong password using acronyms together. Imagine the sentence “I like going to the diner to eat strawberry chocolate cheesecake with my best friend Amy” is very meaningful to you. As an acronym, that sentence would be “IlgttdtesccwmbfA,” but you still need to incorporate a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols to make it stronger; more on that below.

3. Replace letters for numbers and symbols

Following our example above, we still need to swap out letters for numbers or symbols to make our password strong. After making these changes, your password has gone from the acronym “IlgttdtesccwmbfA” to something like “I1g2tD2eSccWmbfA!.” To anyone who didn’t know your original sentence or phrase, this password would be challenging to guess since it contains random letters, numbers and symbols.

You can also replace letters with numbers and symbols in a passphrase. For example, if you have the words “cheese,” “sofa,” “motorcycle” and “sapling,” you can incorporate numbers and symbols to turn these random words into a strong passphrase. The outcome of replacing some letters with numbers and symbols could look like this: Ch3e5e_s0fA!Mot0rcYc1E-5ap1iNg. Because this password is long, contains a variety of characters and is completely random, it is a very strong passphrase.

4. Avoid common dictionary words and related phrases

Make sure to avoid using common dictionary words and phrases in your passwords. You may be thinking, “Doesn’t the dictionary have the kinds of words I’d use in a password? How am I supposed to avoid using common words?” Your password can still incorporate commonly used words; however, they should include a variety of characters or have letters replaced by numbers and symbols to make them more secure. Make sure your password does not contain the word “password” or the phrase “qwerty,” since cybercriminals expect people with poor password practices to use these for convenience. Common dictionary phrases might also include “iloveyou,” “goodmorning” or other popular sayings that could be cracked in a dictionary attack.

Dictionary attacks occur when a cybercriminal cracks your login credentials by guessing familiar phrases or words found in dictionaries. Even if you think adding “123456” to the end of your password makes it unique and more secure, it does not, because cybercriminals know this is a popular pattern. A good way to avoid using common dictionary words or phrases is to use a password or passphrase generator, which provides random combinations of characters and words, making it much harder for cybercriminals to crack your credentials.

5. Start using a password manager

In addition to using a password or passphrase generator, you should start using a password manager, which not only creates strong passwords but also stores them in a safe place. Keeper Password Manager offers a built-in passphrase generator, allowing you to replace any weak or reused passwords with strong, random passphrases at the click of a button. Keeper Password Manager can also automatically fill in your login credentials using KeeperFill^®, which enters the username and password from your digital vault into websites by recognizing which website or account you need the login credentials for. To access your password manager, all you need to remember is your master password, which is a single password or passphrase that unlocks your digital vault.

How Keeper^® helps you create strong passwords

By following these best practices for creating strong and memorable passwords, you will protect your online accounts and private information from potential cyber threats. Using Keeper Password Manager helps you create and store strong passwords and passphrases in a secure digital vault, making it a helpful tool for maintaining password security.

Start your free 30-day trial today to explore the convenient and safe features that Keeper Password Manager has to offer.