Strengthen Online Security, Turn Passwords Into Passphrases: Tech Expert Explains
By: Sam Robinson
We’re always told to update our passwords, and tech expert Geoff Quattromani has a way to make them strong and memorable.
There’s nothing that sends shivers up the spine more than automated reminders to update your passwords, which comes with an added complication of remembering it – as well as every other password you have created for different online accounts. But, there’s a way to make things easier. Geoff Quattromani from the Technology Uncorked podcast, says it’s better to turn passwords into passphrases.
“A passphrase is effectively a combination of words,” Geoff explained.
“It could be a saying that you will actually remember, but it’s essentially putting together a bunch of words that make a much stronger password, because it’s obviously got more characters in it.”
Geoff says that the best passphrases to remember are often based on things you own, or regularly see.
“Say for example somebody’s password is ‘Toyota1’, if you use a passphrase you could say ‘MyWhiteToyota’.
“By capitalising each word there’s some added complexity, and then if you add a number at the end, and an exclamation mark, you’ve made it even stronger. And that’s not that hard to remember because it’s something that you have and something you would see – just remembering what rules you’ve put in place will help.”
This technique will prove helpful – but how can you apply it to every single unique password you have across the internet?
“What I would then do is actually bolt on the end of that passphrase what you’re logging in to. For example, ‘MyWhiteToyota1!Facebook’, or ‘MyWhiteToyota1!Twitter’,” Geoff said.
“Effectively, you’ve got a unique passphrase for everything you’re logging in to. It’s easy to remember, and it’s very, very long. Anyone would be impressed to see you type a password that long, because you’re remembering it as well.”
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Photo by Damian Zaleski on Unsplash
