Latest Password Advice

As hackers are getting more advanced we need to up our game on account protection this is businesses and individuals alike. Think of it like your front door. People didn't used to lock their front door years ago, the barrier of a door was enough. Then came the simple lock mortice lock, then the additional yale, a second security, followed by the chain link for partial opening protection. Our online accounts are no different. Our simple child's/dogs name with our birth year is no longer sufficient and easily guessed. The latest advice from the National Cyber security Centre suggests:

Combine 3 random words, Link 3 or more unrelated words together (e.g., TeaR1ver@pple!) to create high entropy that is easy for you to picture and therefore remember but hard for a hacker to crack and unrelated to your personal like, online at least.

Password Managers and Generator's are still recommended as we should be using a different password for every site to prevent data breaches impacting us. For me there is something about creating my own password which I enjoy, possibly the control element.

If you are not the type of person to create a different password for every account at the very least make sure your primary email account has a password used no where else and it is strong.

Here are some more suggestions

Use acronyms from a phrase: Take the first letters of a favourite line from a song, poem, or book, and mix in numbers or punctuation (e.g., turning “Take me down to the paradise city...” into Tmd2tpcWtg1g&tgap.

Skip vowels and turn them into numbers or symbols: 4lr1ght_st0p_c0!!4b0r4t3_4nd_l1st3n (Thank you Vanilla Ice).

Lacking inspiration? Mix Life events with years. For example I took my grade 5 piano exam in Shrewsbury aged 14 = Piano12@Shrew1992

Create multilingual phrases, Luna-Hund@Bridge42 Italian, German, English and I picture my dog walking over a canal bridge number 42, on a full moon.

The next time you have to change your password I hope it is more fun and less of a chore.

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