How do you create a strong, secure password?

Passwords are a series of characters—numbers, letters, or special characters—that allow you to authenticate yourself when accessing an app or website. Given the massive amount of apps and websites many of us use on a daily basis, it’s common practice for people to use the same password for multiple accounts. 

However, as a security engineer at N26 explains, “passwords are like house keys. They must be unique so that no one can guess them and access your mailbox, Spotify account, or bank credentials.”

But how can you ensure that you’re creating a strong password, and how do you then remember it? This article will introduce you to a number of ways to create new passwords that are secure and easy to remember.

These days, cybercrime is a serious problem—one that every individual and company faces. And while hackers rarely try to guess a single password to access your personal information, they do conduct so-called "dictionary attacks." These attacks are carried out at scale and can target thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of users at the same time. Through advanced automated systems, these criminals attempt to guess user IDs by trying many combinations of commonly-used emails and passwords.

If your password is simple or easy to guess, it’s much easier for hackers to find it in a password dictionary. Depending on the platform under attack, they can then log in to your accounts and access sensitive data. To see if your email address may have been affected by data leaks, check this website.

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Now, you might wonder what exactly constitutes a secure password. While many service providers now impose rigid rules to ensure the strength of your password on their platform, here are some general things to keep in mind:

• Avoid repetition or number sequences. If your password consists of repetitive elements or a series of numbers, hacker algorithms will find it easier to guess.
• Don’t use words or numbers that relate to yourself—for example your address, or your date and place of birth. Cyber attackers can easily find this information and use it to explore combinations that make up your password. 
• Avoid series that form a pattern on a keyboard. Hackers know that people tend to choose their passwords based on keyboard patterns.

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• Choose 4 random words and numbers, or special characters. Improve the security of your password by choosing a random sequence—for example, one consisting of four complete words and other characters.
• Use unique passwords for all your accounts. If hackers guess one of your passwords, they’ll try to hack into your other accounts too. That’s why it’s important to choose individual passwords for each account.
• Make it a habit to regularly create new passwords. This also helps to protect your data from hackers. If you have any doubt about whether a third party has access to your data, you should change your password straight away. If you think that a third party has been able to access your bank account, you should block your card right away and immediately contact your bank's customer support.

In summary, the longer your password is—and the more randomly chosen words, special characters and numbers it contains—the more secure it should be.

To discover examples of strong passwords, check out our YouTube video. 

You can find many password generators online that randomly provide you with word combinations, numbers, and special characters to make up a secure password. Although these generators can be useful, the passwords they suggest are often impossible to remember.

Password managers are super handy since you only need to remember one password. These tools encrypt all your various passwords and allow you to access them with just one password. The password used to access the manager is only known to you, and—if it’s sufficiently secure—it means that all of your passwords are safe and you don’t have to remember every single one.

On top of this, password managers usually offer an integrated password generator that will suggest a secure combination as you need. If you choose to use the one provided, it will then be saved by your password manager.

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Whether you want to use a password manager or rely on your exceptional memory—with our tips for secure passwords, you won’t make hackers’ lives easy. And, if you want to know more about keeping your accounts safe, read our guide to secure online banking!