WJPS' Guide to a Strong Password

Passwords protect your electronic accounts and devices from unauthorized access, keeping your information safe. 

A strong password is a unique one. If you use a password over and over again, you run the risk of the password being leaked from one service, and subsequently all your accounts could be compromised. Using different passwords for each account you make means if one is leaked, you don't need to go and update them all!

Coming up with a system to make all passwords unique, or using generated passwords from a password manager, is the best way to keep your accounts secure online.  

You should never use personal details to create passwords. If you use a family members name, a pet’s name, your date of birth, or any personal information, you run the risk of a targeted attacker guessing your password. 

Using common passwords such as “password”, or any variation of that will very likely cause your account to be compromised. You can still create memorable passwords that are unique.

We have used the password guidance provided by the NCSC for creating a memorable password.

The basic rundown of how the NCSC suggest making a memorable password is to use three random words, so in their example they use red, house, and monkeys to create “3redhousemonkeys27!”. To make this unique for each site you could make a variation of your password for each website/service, or use a completely new 3 words. 

We recommend using a reputable password manager to store and, in some case, generate passwords. Avoid writing the password down somewhere that could lead to anyone seeing it. While prices of password manager vary, there are also some available free of charge, although free options may be ‘Self hosted’ and not as accessible on all your devices.  

To increase account security even further, we would recommend setting up two factor authentication (2FA) on accounts that allow it. 2FA means that even if an intruder knows your password, they will need access to a device such as your phone in order to log into your account.

Published: 21/04/2022 Published by: WJPS

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