June 28, 2013

How to Create a Password You Can Remember

Edited by Lisa Brooks, Scott Solkoff, Ben Rubenstein, Jack Herrick and 65 others

In our modern society, just about everything is password protected, and it's no easy task to come up with a password that is both easy to remember and safe. Try one or all of these techniques to create a secure but memorable password.

EditSteps

Combine Small Words

1
Make a compound word. A smart way to develop an easy-to-remember password is to combine three small words to make a single password. For example, you can use "howstopyes" or "earpengold". If you want an even easier to remember password, you can use words that are related to each other like "yesnomaybe". Be aware, however, that this is much less secure! It adds more security to capitalize the first letters of the different words: "ballzonecart" becomes "BallZoneCart".
- In terms of security, sheer length is superior to a shorter but random mix of numbers, letters and symbols. See this article for more information.

Use Your Favorites

1
Focus on the things you like. Choose a favorite number (or two), a favorite word (or two), a favorite symbol (or two). Add the first one (or two) symbols that come to mind when you see the website address or the most prominent words on the sign-in page. Choose an order and put them all together into one long string. For example, four and crazy and _ could change into "four_crazy" or "_crafourzy".

Remove the Vowels

1
Take a word or phrase and remove the vowels from it. For example, "eat the cheeseburger" becomes "tthchsbrgr".
2
Replace vowels with numbers. Use Leetspeak as your guide. For instance, "a" becomes "4" and "e" becomes "3."
3
Try thinking of a name (BOB). Now use only the consonants, being BB. Then go back and plug any vowel you did not type. Your password would be BBO.

Use the Keyboard

1
Shift your fingers one key out of your normal typing position. If your password doesn't use the Q, A, or Z, you can hit the key to the left of your password. Or to the right if you don't use the P, L, or M. "Speedracer" goes to both sides, but "wikiHow" can become "qujugiq" or "eolojpe". You could also shift up and to the right or left. "wikiHow" becomes "28i8y92" or "39o9u03".

Abbreviate

1
Connect the first letters of a sentence. Develop a password using the first letters of a sentence or phrase that means something to you - like your national anthem or a slogan you have seen somewhere. "Don't shop for it, Argos it" would become "DsfiAi".

Mix Words

1
Choose two words and combine their letters to create the password, choosing one letter of the first word and one letter of the second word, and repeating this until you get to the last letter of each word. An example could be:

Words: house & plane
Password: hpoluasnee

Use Year and Month Plus Letters

1
Use the current year and first three letters of the current month. Then add three letters from, say, your name. In this case, your password might read 2013mayBob. Next month, change it to 2013junBob. It's impossible to have the same password twice or to forget it.
2
Many users combine a date component inside a larger password. This helps when the password needs to change from time to time. But, remember to never use only a date - date-only passwords are at higher risk to being cracked than other choices.

Use a Book

1
Choose a favorite passage out of a book and use a word from the passage. For example, if your favorite book is "The Eye of the World", by Robert Jordan, and your favorite passage is the second paragraph on page 168, use a word from that passage. You can use the word Draghkar. So you would put 2Draghkar168. 2 is the paragraph number and 168 is the page number.

Turn Letters into Numbers

1
Think of a phrase or name.
2
Type that phrase/name using the numbers located on the telephone number pad. The letters have now turned into numbers. Adding a random letter or symbol as well will increase the security of this password.
- Substituting numbers for letters is called Leetspeak. This technique is programmed into most password cracking tools, making it slightly less secure. Remember to make this a component of a larger password or compound pass-phrase.

Pass Phrases

1
Come up with a pass phrase. Length can be a huge advantage to memorization. If your typing is fairly accurate, consider large phrases from a book, speech or movie, such as:
- "It was a dark and stormy night!"
- "My fellow Americans!"
- "Houston, we have a problem."
2
Phrases are easy to memorize. The length of a pass phrase has several advantages:
- The length can provide security even if special symbols are not used. This can help with sites that prevent the use of symbols.
- Make good use of punctuation and capitalization to make a secure pass phrase that complies with common password rules.

Reverse Numbers

1
Think of a random phrase. Let's say you choose "Scarlet Pickles".
2
Link the words. So you now have "ScarletPickles".
3
Reverse the phrase. Now it's selkciPtelracS.
4
Add numbers and symbols in-between. You might have "sel8k^ciPt99el()rac%S!". Remember the order of the symbols and where you place them though.

Develop a Truly Random Password

1
Get a random sequence. Use software or, less reliable but usually effective enough, simply jot down letters and numbers as they come to your mind.
2
Focus on each letter of the password and come up with a mnemonic device. A way to remember a randomized, assigned difficult password, like "tthertd," can be simple and fun. Think of a sentence in which there is one word beginning with each letter of the password; for example, "tthertd" could be "terrible tigers have every right to drive." "tksycgfm" might be "talk kindly so you can get free money."

Develop an Algorithm

1
Come up with a sequence. To develop your algorithm, decide which steps you'll use to make your password. You could take the name of the website and then add the last four digits of a friend's home phone number to the end. (Don't use your own phone number, since a clever hacker could try the same algorithm in a dictionary attack.) The password for wikiHow might be "wikiHow4588". Maybe you would spell wikiHow backwards. You'd get woHikiw. The more steps in your algorithm, and the more unpredictable each step is, the more secure your password.

Use a Hash Function

1
Use a hash function so you only have to remember one master password. Use something like 'echo "<master pass>" "<user name>" "<resource>" | openssl dgst -md5' to give yourself many different unique passwords.

Number Rows

1
Pick a number with two or three digits.
2
Find your number on the keyboard. Look at the letters directly beneath it. Let's say you chose 1. The numbers directly beneath the 1 key are Q, A, and Z. Now, when you create your password, press the first number that you chose, then press all of the letter keys that are directly beneath it. Do this with all of your numbers. Now all you have to remember are the numbers. So for 39503, your password is 3edc9ol5tgb0p3edc.
- If you want a more difficult password, try capitalizing the first letter of the row, making one of the numbers a symbol, or something else along those lines.

EditTips

If you prefer to have a word that has no symbols or numbers in it, the best thing is for it not to be a word in the dictionary, like "wazzup". Also, you can simply substitute letters so it still can sound the same, like this: Crazy = Kraizee. This is not too challenging.
Mixing letters and numbers is always safer than just using numbers or just using letters.
When coming up with a mnemonic sentence, try and make the sentence funny or relevant to yourself. That way you will find it easier to remember the sentence and the password.
Change numbers into Roman numerals for more security (i.e. iamcool2 becomes iamcoolii). You can even mix normal numbers and Roman numerals: 1i = 11, 1ii = 12, and so on.
Try the diceware method.
You might combine several of these methods and still come up with a truly memorable yet very strong pass phrase.
The most secure passwords contain lowercase letters, capital letters, numbers, AND symbols. Make a standard of holding down shift for the first four characters, or characters three through seven, or whatever you like. You won't have to stop and remember where you inserted that pesky exclamation point or whether you replaced the 's' with '5' or '$' this time.
Write down fractions of a password on separate sheets of paper and hide them in different areas.
The more complex and longer the password, the less likely it is to be cracked. However, it is often proportionately harder to remember.
If you say the letters or numbers to yourself as you type them you will begin to get a rhythm; this will help you to memorize it.

EditWarnings

Do not simply combine two or more dictionary words even if you think they are rare. Many password crackers try combinations of dictionary words first.
Do not rely on replacing letters with numbers for security. Password cracking programs break these passwords as easily as the words themselves.
When using numbers only, make sure the sequence is completely random and has no importance. It's best not to use any number that is a matter of record, such as phone, address, and Social Security numbers.
Do not use any of the passwords listed above. Because they have been listed here, they are now visible to the world.
Do not use the same password for several logins, especially if they involve sensitive financial or other personal information. When registering on websites that ask for your email address, never use the same password as you do for your email account.
Don't use common words and numbers as your password. Don't use "password" or "12345678" or "abcdefgh" or "login" for instance.
Do not make a random password that you can't remember, like fdbjhfkwgakwy ( Note: Do not correct spelling on that "word" if you are editing).
Don't tell anyone (except possibly your parents, depending on your age and life situation) your password!!

EditRelated wikiHows

EditSources and Citations

Password Generator - A web-based tool and optional bookmarklet that creates random passwords using clever math magic.

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Muhammad Ahmad