Quick tips for creating a secure passphrase

Passwords Vs. Passphrases

OMG, how many passwords have you had to create for all your online presence? Even when you got a system down, such as one set of passwords for your bank. Credit cards, all your finance accounts. You might have another set of passwords for your online social media presence, no matter what system you have, it's been recommended to never just use words with a number and maybe 1 symbol in it, hackers are very clever.

Experts found that the length of a password is a better indicator of its strength. Moreover, using passphrases can solve the dilemma of having a secure and user-friendly password. Passphrases are similar to passwords, but longer to add security.

Make up a sentence or phrase that is easy for you to remember but hard for hackers to crack

Try adding your own symbols: by including a combination of special characters upper- and lower-case letters, and punctuations

By following the above tips, let’s create a secure passphrase:

“Onceinalifetime”

For example, to create an extra stronger password would be to capitalize the first letter of each word and use the number "0" in place of the letter "o", use the number "3" in place of the letter "e" and the symbol "@" in place of the letter "a". Our strong passphrase becomes:

“0nc3In@Lif3Tim3"

No matter how user-friendly a strong password can be, remembering so many of them is still very challenging. The obvious course of action to remedy this problem is to save a list of all passwords somewhere.

I used to write down cryptic hints e.g., jump out of an airplane - for me that will be Once in a lifetime. It will be your own personal meaning. So just in case you forget, you can look at your hint to jog your memory.

Where to save passwords?

I'm sure you are quite familiar to see the below screen while using the internet, it's a password manager program.

A password manager is a program that holds all your passwords with other associated information (usernames and platforms) in one place, with only one master password. Password managers can do the hard work of creating strong passwords and save them for you to access when needed.

These programs are heavily encrypted and often require two-factor authentication to access the content. That means each time you or anyone attempts to log in to any of the two accounts, a unique and one-time verification code is sent to your mobile phone. Therefore, they are more secure than saving your passwords in a document on your computer or writing them down on a piece of paper.

Here are 4 very common password managers that also let you know whenever any of your passwords is compromised:

• LastPass: remembers all your passwords, so you don't have to. 1 devise ( Free)

• 1Password: standalone app available for Android, Apple, and Windows devices. (Paid option)

• Google Password Manager: works automatically with your Gmail account. (Free)

• iCloud Keychain Access: works directly with all your Apple devices and products through your iCloud account. (Free)

You can learn more about password managers at WIRED article at this link.

4 best practices to keep in mind

• Avoid using your password manager account on a device that is not yours. If you do, make sure to sign out of it once you are done. Also, never agree to save your password on a device that is not yours.

• Always use a set of unique passwords. Using the same password will link the security of multiple online accounts to only one password.

• Most likely, your most important passwords are the ones for your primary email address and your password manager account. Anyone with access to your primary email account can change the password of any other online account created with that email. Plus, in cases like Gmail, your email account is directly linked to one of your password managers. Therefore, these passwords should always be memorized and never be shared. They should also use two-factor authentication for extra security, normally sending code to your phone, etc.

• Make a note of your password/password phrase in a secure place, of course not writing the actual password down but by using a clue/hint only you will know that will remind you of the password.

It's amazing how many accounts we have online needing a password. Aprx. How many do you have?