Simple Recipe to Create Strong and Memorable Passwords
Passwords are important and represent the only wall between bad people and your money and life.
In my work with Seniors, I’ve also discovered that passwords can be a challenge. When I ask people to use their Apple ID’s, I see a number of responses ranging from “I don’t know” to little scraps of paper where passwords are written.
I also see all kinds of common sense rules are not being applied. So I wrote Recipe #010 Strong Passwords for Safe Data which, borrowing an approach from security experts, recommended using a passphrase to create a strong password that could be adapted in order to create unique passwords for different needs.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) and the Senior Tech Club is proud to be a NCSAM Champion.
Each week in October, the Senior Tech Club will feature Nuggets and Recipes that will help you protect your personal data and safety.
As I explored links, tips and recommandations provided me as a Champion for the National Cyber Security Awareness Month, I came upon a tip sheet on passwords provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The recommendations were simple and easy to consume
Good News!! Recipe #010 will allow you to check off their recommendations as DONE. It does this with a formula that uses a favorite song lyric as a passphrase.
Do you have a favorite song lyric? One that you will never forget?
- Round round get around, I get around – Beach Boys
- Yesterday, all my troubles seem so far away – Beatles
- This is Ground Control to Major Tom – David Bowie
- You are the sunshine of my life – Stevie Wonder
- Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb – Traditional
Simple Tips
Provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (Document link)
✅ Make your password eight characters or longer.
✅ Use a long passphrase.
✅ Don’t make passwords easy to guess.
✅ Avoid using common words in your password.
✅ Get creative.
✅ Unique account, unique password.
Senior Tech Club Recipe
Refer to Senior Tech Recipe #010 Strong Passwords for Safe Data for complete instructions about creating easy to remember but unique and strong passwords for all of your needs.
Summary
In summary, the tip from the Senior Tech Club is to pick a favorite song lyric as your base, add a handful of changes and additions and you have a strong password that is also unique and most importantly, easy to remember.
Additional Information
The Senior Tech Club proudly presents Recipes and Nuggets on this topic:
Related Senior Tech Club Recipes and Nuggets
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