How to Create Strong Passwords You Can Remember

byegonsarv

4K followers

Updated 9 years ago

Do you also struggle creating and remembering ever increasing number of passwords? Do you have the same problem where you join a new program or service and they ask you to create a password. Yet the password has to be strong and you have to remember it too.

I found it increasingly difficult problem to solve. I tried to remember them, I tried to use a certain set of strong passwords and switch between them (not recommended!!!). Also, I tried different password managers but as you know, everything that sits somewhere in the server (or in your computer) is vulnerable. They say your passwords are safe but then... You never know.

Your credit card data should also be safe. Yet millions and millions are stolen frequently.

The best place to keep you passwords is your brain. At least there is no equipment yet to read it. The problem is, how to remember them.

Don't worry. I give you a very simple solution and if you follow the tips below, you don't really need to memorize ANY password. Yet you KNOW all of them. And they ALL are strong. As strong as you want.

1. Easy passwords are not accepted.

This you probably already know. It's not wise to use your mother's name or your child's name or ANY word found in a dictionary. Computers crack them easily.

2. It is recommended to use both letters AND numbers

So what people usually do? They still use some word from the dictionary or some stronger string from the keyboard and add 2 numbers either in front of the word or at the back of the word.

Examples:

23asdfgjk

asdfghjk23

Not good!!!

3. It is recommended to use both small and capital letters

So what people do?

They add one capital letter:

Kendkekso23

In this case, if the string (a combination of letters) is strong enough, the password gets stronger. The problem is, how to remember it?

And when you have to create and remember new and new passwords...then how to remember all of them?

I struggled with it.

HOW TO CREATE EASY TO REMEMBER STRONG STRING?

STEP 1: This is the first step in the solution. Choose some sentence that you really like (your favorite quote, poem, etc).

For my example I take this Chinese proverb:

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

STEP 2: Now take the first letter of each word. You get a string like this:

tmwrambbcass

Now let me tell you 2 things about it.

1. It is strong

2. It is easy to remember. As long as you remember the proverb you can always derive a password, right?

If it is too long, take only the first part of the proverb:

tmwram - it is still 6 letters long, so it is strong string for a password.

STEP 3: Add a capital letter or two:

Let's say you choose that letter no 3 and 5 are capital letters:

tmWrAm

STEP 4: Add numbers. For this take some numbers that for you are easy to remember. I recommend to pick a 4-digit number. It makes your password stronger.

Let's say somebody you know (but not a very close person) has his birthday on May 17. Then you can create a 4-digit number as 0517. Add it to your already created string:

tmWrAm0517

Now let me tell you, this is already a strong password. It has 10 symbols and no word from a dictionary. Also, it is easy to remember.

Take a paper and try it out. You are able to write it down, even tomorrow or next week.

The problem

If you stop here, you have to create many such kind of passwords. Even though it's easy to remember each password you will struggle to remember WHICH password you used for any specific login.

To avoid it you want to continue and follow the next step. And I tell you, this is a real gem. This final step makes the whole thing beautiful. So that you don't need to remember ANY specific password, YET you know ALL of them. Even if you have hundreds of them.

The next steps?

You create an algorithm.

STEP 5:

Pick another 4-, 5- or 6-digit number but try to pick the one where the numbers are relatively small and different. It makes your life easier.

Examples:

2436 - is good choice

1523 - good choice

3344 - not so good, because same numbers

8967 - not so good either because relatively big numbers.

Let's say the last 4 numbers of your friend's phone number are 2531. Pick this number:

2531 - this is your key that you should remember. But you already remember it.

DON'T add it to your password. It won't help you much.

STEP 6: Take the website URL and create a code.

Let's say you want to create Wordpress account. Wordpress URL is

wordpress.com

(note! If the website has www in front of it, just skip it.)

Now use your key 2531 and count the letters. In the wordpress.com:

letter #2 is o

letter #5 is p

letter #3 is r

letter #1 is w

Now create your code:

oprw

Attach this string to the end of your password:

tmWrAm0517oprw

This is 14 symbol password, including numbers and capital letters and is easy to remember. And it is for your Wordpress account only.

Example 2:

Let's say now you want to create your Gmail account. You need a password! Easy.

Type in your standard password:

tmWrAm0517

What is gmail URL? gmail.com

Read a key from it: (2531):

mlag

Attach it to your standard password:

tmWrAm0517 + mlag = tmWrAm0517mlag

Example 3:

You create a Dropbox account.

URL - Dropbox.com

Standard password: tmWrAm0517

Dropbox code: rbod

Your strong password:tmWrAm0517rbod

If you make your code longer (6-digit number) your passwords will be even stronger.

That's it.

This way you can create 100+ different passwords with NO NEED to remember ANY of them. Yet they all are strong.

So what techniques do you use to create strong and easy to remember passwords.