Got Hacked? - Three easy steps to make unbreakable passwords that you can actually remember!

Recent events in Germany have shown that many of us are still making it too easy to get hacked. Problem number one are passwords: we are all aware that we should be using passwords that are hard to break but then every time we make an account on some webpage or in an App, we are often required to secure it with a password. Best practice is to have differing passwords for each of them - BUT WHO CAN REMEMBER ALL THOSE PASSWORDS???

I know you can buy software that will manage all your passwords for convenience but in my mind that is just like noting them down on a postit that has a lock on it: a treasure trove for hackers I would imagine!

Here is the solution I have come up with for myself that let's me make an unlimited number of passwords that are:

1.   individual (to each account, website, app, etc.)

2.   hard to break (containing at least 8 chars, upper-/lowercase, numbers, special chars, and no real words)

3.   easy to remember < this is the critical bit!!!

Here is how you can do it to in three easy steps:

1.   Think of a proverb that you can easily remember because it has some meaning to you or a sentence that fulfils the same prerequisite (MUST HAVE MORE THAN 8 WORDS!). Say, for example: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" When you sit at the keyboard, let the phrase run through your head word by word and type only the first letter of each word: Yclahtwbycmhd - good start!

2.   Now decide on which letters will be uppercase. Say, you capitalize all nouns. Then you want to introduce numbers and special chars. I would just replace words that have similar sounds or graphics, as this: U can ￡ead @ Horse 2 Water but u can’t make him drink

When you sit at the keyboard, let the phrase run through your head and make the substitutions: Uc￡@H2Wbucmhd – much better already!

3.   Now you choose one of the words – I usually take the subject or object of the sentence – and replace it with the provider/ webpage/ App name. I would therefore take “Horse” and my Netflix password would look like this: Uc￡@Netflix2Wbucmhd – rinse and repeat!

Now, find your own proverb (because hackers will read this too) and play around with it: capitalize every second letter or find other special chars to use and just make it as complex as you like.

Oh yeah and the same is true for passwords: You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink ??