Strong Passwords

A strong password is a password that is virtually impossible for a hacker to figure out or crack using brute force methods. A good, strong, unbreakable password should consist of many, if not all of the following:

Strong Password

• Both upper and lower case characters
• At least 2 Numbers
• At least 2 Symbol Characters such as ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = { } [ ] \ | : ; " ' < > , . ? /
• Should be a minimum of 8 characters in length, longer is even better and more secure. 12 Character long passwords are considered truly secure.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well the problem is that by using such a strong password they are often rather random and hard to remember which is why many users do not employ such uncrackable passwords.

Shortly I will give you multiple methods for creating good strong passwords that are easy to remember and virtually impossible for others to either guess or crack. So you will get the best of both worlds and stay secure online.

What is a Bad Password

What you should not use as your password:

• Your Account Username
• Your Pets Name
• Your First or Last Name
• Your Company Name
• Your E-Mail User Name - MadeUpUserName867@gmail.com
• Your Birth date
• Your Address
• Any Dictionary Word
• Absolutely no Password that is less than 8 characters in length. 6 characters are just way too easy to crack.
• Anything that is personal that a person who knows you could easily guess.

Specific Passwords that are just moronic to use:

• Password
• God
• Jesus
• Christ
• Love
• Sex
• Money
• 123456 - Consecutive Numbers
• Qwerty - Consecutive Keyboard Characters
• Asdfg - Consecutive Keyboard Characters
• ~!@#$%^ - Consecutive Symbols
• Any Dictionary Word as these will be the first thing a cracker will attempt to use to solve your password

Studying a list of commonly used password coming from accounts that have been hacked where the passwords were publicly released is a good way to learn from others mistakes. Most Commonly Used Passwords

Royalty Free Image Credit: Linux Login

Next I will give you the method I personally use to create my own passwords. By combing a dictionary word with both numbers and symbols this makes it strong enough to not matter that you have a dictionary word. And its still easy to remember. So this is the best of both worlds in my opinion. Having a dictionary word used consecutively is bad, breaking it up with letters or symbols is alright.

Method 1 To create an easy to remember password that is really strong.

I take any somewhat short dictionary word that relates to a personal interest of mine and mix in numbers and special characters in a set pattern. Since most users on HubPages consider themselves to be writers the word "Word" should be easy to remember and identify with.

Then I will mix it up like this. A capitalized letter, a number, a lower case letter, a number, rest of word with one more Capitalized letter again, then end it with two special characters.

Example: W5o4Rd@$

Now you have turned a short easy to remember 4 character word into a strong 8 character password! By using two numbers that are easy for you to remember and two special characters you can assign some kind of meaning to you make the whole thing easy to remember. Writing "Word", 54 means something special only to me...., @= At (HP) makes me money $. Does that make some sense to you?

As far as the numbers go to make them easy to remember think of 2 numbers that have some kind of special meaning to you. Not your birth year or address. I like to use a number that relates to a special achievement a very famous person is well known for that I will never forget. Other times I just pick to random numbers and hope I can remember them.

Use this same method on a 6 character word while adding in 2 numbers and 2 special characters and you will have a 10 character password that is quite strong!

A good alternative would be to break up the word with symbols and use numbers at the end. Or alternate between numbers and symbols. Pick a method and stick to it so you know your pattern.

Method 2 to create a strong password that is easy to remember.

Substituting certain letters in a word with either numbers, symbols, or other letters.

• a = @
• E = 3
• h = 4
• I = !
• L = 7
• M = W
• O = 0
• S = $
• T = +
• U or V = ^
• W = M
• % = A Literal Space

Using the word "Great" would then become: Gr3@+ . Then add in the 2 numbers in a pattern you choose and 2 more symbols and you have a very secure password you can easily remember thats still not real long. Gr3@+21$@

Method 3 to create a strong password that is easy to remember.

Create an acronym from an easy to remember phrase. Preferably one that contains a number. Otherwise just insert your 2 numbers in like before in a set pattern. You could also substitute the number 2 for the word to, or too.

For example take this quote from Abraham Lincoln: God must love the common man, he made so many of them.

GmLtCm,HmSmOt add in your 2 easy to remember numbers and 2 Symbols and you have: Gm5Lt7Cm,Hm#Sm$Ot . Now you have a 17 character password that is both easy to remember and strong enough for even your online bank account.

Notice I inserted the numbers and symbols using a set pattern. 2 letters, a number, 2 letters, a number. 2 letters, then the comma that was already there, 2 letters, a symbol, 2 letters, a symbol, last 2 letters.

Any pattern will work, just pick one and always stick to it. So it becomes second nature to you when your trying to remember your password and method used to construct it

Now all you must remember is this common quote, your 2 numbers and your 2 symbols. These last 2 will becomes easier to remember as you reuse them in other passwords. You must also remember your pattern and that too will becomes easier to remember with repeated use.

One more shorter example: Garbage In, Garbage Out

Gi,Go Add our 2 numbers and symbols next G3i5,G%0&

You can also mix and match the above 3 methods to create your own custom method.

This Little Piggy Went To Market

TLPWTM becomes +7Pw2M since I now have two numbers in here I'll just add symbols. +7Pw*2$M Here I have combined a phrase based acronym with substitution.

Once you have come up with a password you believe is strong go test out your password with this Password Meter. It is safe to check your password there since it uses JavaScript to evaluate your password from within your browser without transmitting it over the internet. I took the time to look at the HTML and Javascript code that runs that web page and can assure it is safe to use. I trust it.

If you still really don't trust this web page then test out a similar password that is not actually the one you plan to use. For this to be accurate you will need for your similar password to be the same length, use the same number of numbers and symbols, use the same pattern of upper and lower case characters. Basically it all needs to match the same exact pattern to get an accurate result on your similar password.

I invite you to share, via the comments below, the method you use to come up with your strong passwords. Doing this without revealing any passwords you actually do use of course. I will add any good suggested methods.

By Anthony Goodley ©Anthony Goodley 2010 All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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