How do I come up with a really strong password that I can remember?

Every year Nordpass carries out research into the Top 200 Most Common Passwords. Remaining top of the charts in 2022 is password… beating other culprits in the Top 10 including qwerty, 123456 and variations on the ascending number theme. Other observations were that people love them some Tiffany jewellery and things have gotten a bit fish-y.

Now you might be reading this and thinking ‘oh goodness I need to change my passwords’ or maybe you feel a bit unsure or anxious on issues involving cyber security. Maybe you don’t rate your memory or you just have so many things to remember, remembering a password is not one of them. 

Well don’t worry as we have got you covered with a few tips on how to create a strong yet memorable password. But before we delve into the how, let’s discuss what makes a password strong?

What makes a strong password?

You almost certainly have seen this list before. It is normally included as a checklist of requirements that your password needs to meet when setting a new password.

Your password MUST:

• be at least 12 characters long - the longer the better!
• Contain a mix of upper and lowercase letters
• include numbers
• include symbols / special characters 

Passwords should also avoid any ties with your personal information.

It is strongly discouraged to use the same password for multiple accounts. If a hacker cracks one, then it is safe to say all of your accounts are compromised.

How to make a memorable password?

Method 1 - Memorable Quotes/Lyrics/Phrases

There is one leading school of thought on strong passwords. It goes like this. Think of a great line from a movie or a memorable verse from a song. Simply take the first letter from each word and string them together. That popular Adele number becomes "himiwwiaatyyltmtgoe" and Forrest Gump’s philosophy on life reads “mmaslwlabocynkwygg.”

Method 2 - Combinations of Words

Truthfully it isn’t as strong as the previous method as ideally you want to avoid dictionary words! With this method the more words you can combine the better - length is stronger and better than complexity!

Here are some other ideas you could consider: 7 Memory Tricks for Creating Insanely Difficult Passwords

Password Managers

There are also multiple software offerings or password managers out there which can generate really strong passwords for you such as 1Password.

1Password

1. Click the + icon
2. Select the type of password
3. Fill in the various fields.
4. Click the cog icon to get a randomly generated password.
5. You can manually eliminate any offensive words by.
6. Click Save when you are finished inputting the relevant information.

The benefit of these is that you don’t have to remember every single password. But more on that in our next Tech Tip!