How to Create a Strong Password

What Makes a Password Strong?

Strong passwords are long, random, and unique to a single account. A password built from personal details, familiar words, or obvious substitutions is easier to predict than one created from unrelated or randomly chosen characters.

How Long Should a Password Be?

For many accounts, 12 or more randomly chosen characters is a useful starting point, and longer is generally better. Length adds many possible combinations, especially when the password is not based on a familiar phrase.

What Should You Avoid in a Password?

Avoid information that can easily be associated with you, as well as common passwords and predictable sequences. For example:

• Your name or username
• Birthday or age
• Phone numbers
• Names of family members
• Addresses
• Favorite teams or celebrities
• Common words such as password, qwerty, or 123456

Personal information can be found or guessed, then used in targeted attempts to access an account.

Why You Should Never Reuse Passwords

Use a unique password for every important account. If one website suffers a data breach and your password is reused elsewhere, attackers may try the same password on your other accounts.

Use a Password Generator

A random password generator can create a new password from the character choices and length you select. It can help you avoid repeated patterns and gives you a fresh option for each account.

Some services require particular character types. Meet those rules, but remember that length, randomness, and uniqueness matter more than following a fixed recipe on every website.

Use a Password Manager

A password manager can help you create and keep track of separate passwords without trying to memorize each one. This makes it more practical to use a long, unique password for every account.