Create An Easy To Remember Base Password
You can use several techniques how to create a good password that you will not forget. Here are some suggestions.
- Randomly replace letters with numbers, e.g. flirt becomes fl1r7.
- Pick a sentence, i.e. your passphrase, and reduce it to first letters of each word only, e.g. “Everything I Do I Do It For You” becomes EIDIDIFY.
- Take a word and reverse spell it, e.g. neighborhood becomes doohrobhgien.
These examples are not very safe. While none of the words can be found in a dictionary, they are still failing other characteristics of a safe password. Try to find a combination that allows you to incorporate all characteristics.
The base password I’m going to use for this password is “E1d_1D!4Y:)“.
Note that my base password meets all of the above criteria. It cannot be found in a dictionary, it contains special characters, a mix of upper and lower case letters, it is 11 characters long, and cannot be guessed based on my personal information (unless you suspect that I like Bryan Adams).
Be Creative & Think Out Of The Box!
A computer may calculate faster than you can recognize patterns a lot quicker than any human brain, but one thing it cannot do is be creative. That is your great advantage over hacker tools!
As you see, in my password I replaced some letters with numbers or special characters. However, I didn’t use a stiff set of rules. I replaced the “I” with a “1″ or a “!”. Using rules for replacing characters, i.e. always replacing an “a” with the “@” symbol will weaken your password.
Here are some ideas how you can make it even harder for a hacker to crack your password:
- Don’t use common substitutions, e.g. @ for A/a.
- When you have recurring letters within your password, mix your substitutions, e.g. 8 or ( for B/b.
- Have a word and touch type it with your fingers in the etpmh (wrong) location. Keep in mind that you may switch keyboard types.
- Pick a pattern on your keyboard and type it with alternating use of the SHIFT key, e.g. Xdr%6tfCvgz/
How To Create A Good Password That You Will Not Forget
