There are many common ways people try to make their passwords easy to remember. These range from using important dates, such as birthdays or anniversaries, children’s names, pet’s names, and more. While these types of information are easy for users to remember, they are also easy for others to figure out and in return make your accounts less secure.
A secure passphrase is the next generation in passwords. It uses a short phrase instead of a single word, making it more difficult for someone else to guess or use. The key is to make the passphrase something you can easily remember.
Password/Passphrase Requirements:
- 10+ characters
- Cannot use a banned or commonly used password.
Helpful Tips:
Each character that you add to your password increases the protection that it provides many times over. Your passwords must be 10 or more characters in length; 14 characters or longer is ideal. Here are some tips:
- String two or more words together that have meaning to you.
- Example: Favorite food and city – chocolatenewyork.
- Remove all the vowels from a short phrase in order to create a "word."
- Example: vrcldhsslvrlnng ("every cloud has a silver lining")
- Use a random sentence and take the first letter of each word:
- Example: dykietcatsfblad! (did you know i eat toasted cheese and tuna sandwiches for breakfast lunch and dinner!)
- Word and number combinations.
- Example: take four words, and put some numbers between them - park3cloud13street12drawing
- Purposefully misspelling, abbreviating, or adding number and symbols.
- Example: imho&rolling2venyard