Password Length vs Complexity: Which Is More Important?

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), complex passwords that contain a variety of characters are strong, but the longer a password is, regardless of the types of characters, the more secure it is. Password length is generally more important than complexity because longer passwords are typically harder for cybercriminals to crack. That being said, you should also prioritize making your passwords complex for added security. Increasing your password entropy – how challenging it is for a cybercriminal to crack your password – is crucial to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of cyber attacks.

Continue reading to learn the difference between password length and complexity, whether longer passwords are harder to crack and how to increase your overall password security.

The difference between password length and complexity

Password length measures how many characters are in a password. Characters include letters, numbers and symbols. When you use more of these characters, your password increases in length, which therefore increases its difficulty of being cracked.

Password complexity refers to the types of characters in a password. If you use only letters, your password will not be very strong because you have not included any numbers or symbols. However, if you use a variety of letters, numbers and symbols in your password, this increases its complexity. It’s important to remember that even using someone’s name, a number and a symbol does not make your password as strong as it could be, because using common words or phrases reduces a password’s strength. For example, if your password is “TaylorSwift1!,” it would not take a cybercriminal very long to crack your password because it is a well-known celebrity’s name instead of a random combination of letters, numbers and symbols.

Are longer passwords harder to crack?

Even though longer passwords are harder for cybercriminals to crack, a password’s complexity is also a significant factor in determining its strength. There may be some websites where you’ve tried to create a password that have specific password requirements. For example, a website might require you to use a minimum of eight characters and at least one uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number and symbol. Notice how long it would take a cybercriminal to crack your password based on the varying criteria below.

No matter how diverse the characters are, a password containing eight characters would only take a cybercriminal approximately eight hours to crack. Meanwhile, a 12-character password can take 2,000 years to crack, even if it doesn’t contain a single symbol. This is because the more characters a password has, the longer it will take for a cybercriminal to crack.

How to increase your password security

Luckily, there are two simple ways to increase your password security: using a password or passphrase generator and investing in a password manager.

Use a password or passphrase generator

When you need to create a long and complex password, you should use a password generator. A password generator is a tool that creates random passwords based on your preferred criteria. For example, you can set your character length to 100 characters if you want your password to be very long. You can also select whether you want the password generator to include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols for complexity.

You can also use a passphrase generator to produce a random series of words in the form of a unique passphrase. Just as you can customize a password generator’s criteria, you can select how many words you want your passphrase to contain. For example, you can tell your passphrase generator to create a passphrase containing eight words, including uppercase letters and numbers, and separate each word with question marks. If you did that, this could be your secure passphrase: “Sort0?Unicorn?Sink?Snow?Like?Highlight?Triangle?Law.”

Invest in a password manager

After you’ve created a strong password or passphrase, it’s important to protect it in a secure, encrypted place like a password manager. A password manager helps you store and manage your login credentials. Keeper Password Manager features built-in password and passphrase generators, so you can update your login credentials with long and complex passwords or passphrases with ease. Using a password manager improves your password hygiene by storing your strong passwords and notifying you when your passwords are weak or reused.

Use Keeper to create long, complex passwords

Despite password length being more important than password complexity, both play a key role in having strong passwords that protect your online accounts and private information. Keeper Password Manager has multiple helpful features, including built-in password and passphrase generators, that can help ensure your passwords meet the security standards needed to avoid being compromised.

Start your free 30-day trial of Keeper Password Manager to maintain strong password security for all your accounts.