This is not really something I learnt this week. Just something I felt compelled to share
The following advise does not assume that your security will greatly improve. But making these minor changes will have disproportionate improvement to the security.
Great passwords
Are random string like 5v!kal@1B9z(gwp-
Non guessable - but impossible to remember.
You must write them down - which adds to a security risk.
Hence the following “practical” advise.
Bad passwords
Do not choose something like
- firstname@123
- companyname@123
“12345” may be only marginally better than above.
Slightly better passwords
If you must use your or name of the company you work for in the password - be little creative. These are (in my opinion) still easy to remember but not “so easy” to guess.
Use different numbers
- firstname@987
- company@135
- name@246
Use different symbol
- name!234
- name$975
Use capitalization
Put an upper case letter somewhere in between rather than at the beginning, as your instinct might tell you to do.
- naMe#468
- nAmE-159
Use longer passwords
Use more numbers and/or letters - may be your last name.
- fir124St578lAst
- comp*54321any
It is better to use the combination of these ideas as you can see in the examplex above. They progressively get difficult to guess.
Do not reuse the passwords
Even if you make these changes, but use the same password everywhere, then you still have a problem.
If you have too many passwords (doesn't everyone these days?) - use a password manager.
I use KeePassXC But there are other good options like Dashlane, 1Password, LastPass. Search
No post about password is complete without obligatory reference to this wonderful XKCD comic. So here you go …
