How to make a good password and why a password manager is worth it
Passwords you no longer have to remember — and that's a good thing
A good password protects you from nothing if it’s easy to guess or if you use it everywhere. The good news: the rules are simple and don’t ask you to remember complicated things.
A good password is long, not complicated
Forget “P@ssw0rd!”, hard to remember and, in fact, not very safe. Better a long phrase of a few unrelated words: table-green-cat-train. It’s much harder to crack and, oddly, easier to remember.
The most important rule: don’t reuse a password
If you use the same password everywhere, it only has to leak once (from a data breach at one site) to put all your accounts at risk. That’s why every important account deserves a different password.
How do you remember them all? You don’t — a manager does
A password manager is an app that keeps all your passwords in a kind of safe, securely, and fills them in by itself when you log in. You remember just one password, the main one. Examples: Bitwarden, or the one built into your browser or phone.
Add the “second step” too
Even the best password is safer with a second step at login. If you haven’t turned it on yet, see the guide about it — it’s the most important thing you can do for your accounts.
In short
- Make passwords long (a phrase of a few words), not necessarily complicated.
- Don't reuse the same password on more than one account.
- Use a password manager so you don't have to remember them all.
- Also turn on the “second step” (2FA) for your important accounts.
Sources
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