How to Create Secure Passwords You’ll Actually Remember

By Chris Marentis | In Guides, Internet, Productivity, Security | September 2, 2014

Password overload plagues just about every internet user. A forgotten password can be an enormous pain. A hacked site or social media page can easily be a reputation management nightmare. Research by Ofcom suggests 55 percent of adult internet users reported they used the same password for all or most websites in 2013. You don’t have to have a photographic memory to strengthen your passwords. You simply need to find a few tricks that will fend off cyber-attacks.

10 Most Common Passwords from Adobe

In 2013, Adobe experienced a substantial security breach. The 10 most common passwords were found from more than 48 million users. As a good first step, you might want to change your password if it matches most of these on any site.

123456

1234567

12345678

123456789

111111

123123

Password

Qwerty

Adobe123

Photoshop

Don’t Use Passwords with Identifying Information or Passwords That Are Easy to Guess

Think about password strength in terms of how difficult it would be for someone else to guess. “Password” is an extremely easy password to figure out in general. Also, “qwerty” is an easy keyboard pattern to figure out. Also, the commonly used birthday or nickname might not be much better either. Yes, others know what year you were born, what your nickname is, and your mother’s maiden name (and her birthday). Thank the dozen social media sites you go on every day.

Make Passwords Difficult to Crack with Clever Mnemonics

Come up with a short sentence or phrase that means something to you. Also, embrace 1337 (AKA leet or leetspeak). You can be a N00b and still use the semi-language for your passwords. Use symbols that look like letters instead of actual words. Instead of using a password about your love of caffeinated beverages that is a little too obvious, change “ILikeCoffeeInTheMorning” to 1l1k3K0F331nth3m0rn1ng!!!

What to Do About Multiple Sites

You don’t have to reinvent each complex password. You can take out “KOF33” (coffee) and change it to “T045T” (toast). Then get rid of a few of the exclamation points because toast is not nearly as exciting as coffee. Another clever way to remember which password goes where is to choose a food or breakfast item that starts with the same letter as the site the password is for. For example, use toast for Twitter, fruit for Facebook, and grapes for Gmail.

Use a Healthy Dose of Common Sense Every Morning

Protect your most important passwords, and don’t give them out to anyone who doesn’t absolutely need it. You don’t want to risk the reputation management nightmare that happens when your site admin password is hacked, changed, and you are locked out. Use a reputation management handbook for brand improvement instead of damage control. Similarly, change passwords every so often. Refrain from using default usernames and passwords, and you should be good to go.

Cyber security isn’t top notch yet. However, you can greatly reduce the chances of stolen passwords and massive damage by using a few tricks and ample common sense. Don’t send passwords to yourself over an email account that can be hacked, especially with the same password. Passwords do get stolen, but you can mitigate damages by containing unauthorized access to one site at a time.