How to Create a Strong Password — That You Won’t Forget
Our passwords used to be simple words or combination of words and a few numbers that were easy to remember. Now it is increasingly more important to use strong passwords to protect your account and identity. Strong passwords can be hard to remember. Use upper and lower cases. Numbers. Symbols. Don’t use sentences, don’t use words, etc. So, you end up with something like Hu&E63Yu$&Ujs9#8. And who can remember that?
Well, what if I told you that Hwhap#1701 is easy to remember. Here is how I came up with this strong password. I used the phrase “Huston we have a problem”. Notice the first letter of each word makes up the letters in my password. Then you add special character. Next a number. In this case I used the year 2017 and just used 17. 01 is the month. Next month I can change it to 02 if I wish. Or use a combination of numbers that you find easy to remember.
Now you can mix it up. Move the special character to the end or beginning. Use a different longer phrase, such as “I love chocolate” and add it backwards so it becomes ilccli, add a number to the front or back or both. Add a special character.
Any phrase will work as long as it is something you can remember. It can be a favorite phrase from a book or song. Your number can be the page number of the book you got the phrase from. Capitalize one letter but don’t make it the first letter. hWhap#1701 is better than Hwhap#1701.
Another option is to take your phrase and take out the vowels. So, “I love cheesecake” becomes “lvchsck” then add your number and special character.
Using these simple tricks will help you come up with a new strong password. Remember don’t overuse your passwords and change them often.