So, if you need passwords for numerous web-based services and applications, you should have a system for generating them.
The best system will allow the production of secure and unique passwords that a) you won’t forget and b) you won’t have to write down to remember.
Here’s a 3-step system that works for me and I think would pass muster with most techxperts:
- Begin with a magic, made-up word you will never forget, but be sure it is a ‘non-dictionary’ word (words found in dictionaries are easily imported into password-cracking hackware)
- Choose one of the letters in the magic word to capitalize
- Choose a number you will never forget – the longer, the better, but don’t use a number that appears on any official documentation of your life – and stick the number at the front or end of the magic, non-dictionary word that has one capitalized letter
The password you created above is extra strong and it should work everywhere so long as the magic word is 5-characters or longer. No human will ever guess it, and only the most sophisticated password-hacking software would crack it – given time.
And a truly magic word combined with a solidly memorable number will never be forgotten by you, so at most you’d have to remember which letter is capped.
Finally, you can customize this super password for different web sites by adding an additional system.
For example, let’s say this is your magic password: gleBlixk801
Now, let’s say your ‘additional system’ is to add the last three letters of a web site to your super password to create a super custom password just for that site. So if I was creating an account to use at Amazon.com, the result would be: gleBlixk801zon
Again, it’s a system you can remember, but it produces a password that is as close to uncrackable as is practicable.
Imo!
