How to come up with an 8 character password. How to come up with a complex password that's easy to remember

If you decide to come up with a complex password for your mailbox, or for a page on social network, then I won’t even ask myself why this might be needed. Naturally, such a procedure will protect against hacking in most cases, and those users who have been attacked by hackers are unlikely to want to lose access to their accounts again.

So, to come up with a complex password There are just a few things you need to understand:

1. The password must be long

At least 10 characters is ideal for a password. Although, you probably already noticed this, since when registering on sites, most often you cannot create a short password.

2. A complex password contains both letters and numbers

To prevent hackers from guessing your password using special programs, you need to take into account the letters in addition to the length. When creating a password, be sure to use both numbers and letters of the English alphabet. On some sites you can also use special characters such as brackets, dashes, and quotes. So, if possible, then use them too.

3. Don’t come up with trivial passwords

Do not use your birthday, or other dates, or phone numbers in your password. Also, don't use whole words. Letters and numbers mixed together are ideal.

4. Need password protection

By password protection I mean some kind of antivirus. After all, no matter how complex a password is, it can be hacked not by brute force, but by means of a virus on your computer (spyware, Trojans, etc.). Of course, I can’t say, but I recommend or any other to protect your PC from most intruders.

5. It's time to come up with a complex password

I can give an example of complex passwords: NNXFB0qKK6D, g63bRJ7ejtB, F3d)h#H0S4^@, gR^eNC7h4C%l and so on. If you are having difficulty with manual selection such passwords, then I advise you to use online services with password generators.

You will find one of them at: http://onlinepasswordgenerator.ru. There you simply specify the parameters for the password (length, numbers) and click “Create password". We get a list of generated passwords.

To protect yourself as much as possible from theft of passwords, you need to store them not on your computer in notepads, but in less accessible places, for example, keep a special notebook.

Internet users have become smarter over the past few years. No seriously. If earlier my friends complained about the constant hacking of their mailboxes or pages on social networks such as VKontakte or Odnoklassniki, today they come up with such a problem much less often. Last but not least, this has to do with the password - the most important part any account, which for some reason is very often neglected. And in vain.

Imagine that you have a page on a social network or, for example, an account on Skype. If some attacker gains access to the same Skype, he can spend cash, located on your account. At the same time, you will not be able to present anything to the company itself, since you are responsible for your account. Or another case - someone opened yours and started sending spam to your friends. Who might benefit from this? No one, and only you will be to blame.

But before we start talking about main topic our article today, I would like to make a small digression. I want to tell you that even a very complex password consisting of 50 characters cannot protect you if you neglect simple rules security. Why?

  • The first reason is that you save the password in the browser. Never, remember, never, under any circumstances, do this! There is a type of Trojan that, when it reaches the user’s computer, checks the saved contents of the browser and, if saved data is found, transfers the information to the attacker, without you even knowing about it! Therefore, always write down all important data (the same password) in a diary or on a piece of paper to which only you have access.
  • The second reason: it is a continuation of the first. If someone has obtained data from your account on a social network, then they will probably try to use this password on other resources where you are also registered. This is why some users so easily lose their mailboxes— they use the same password everywhere! You can't do that! For each site, create your own unique combination of symbols!
  • The third reason: phishing sites. Alas, not one of us is immune from them. A phishing site is a fake, the design of which is completely copied from some popular resource. Very often, for example, the same “VKontakte” fakes - you go to its exact copy, which is not located on the domain vk.com, but, say, on vkkkk.com. After you enter your profile data, it will instantly go to the attacker, although you yourself will not be able to access your page - after all, this is a completely different site, only outwardly similar to VK! Therefore, always pay close attention domain names sites where you enter your valuable login and password. (You can also get to the phishing site through the shift hosts file, but we'll talk about that next time).
  • The fourth reason: keyloggers. Keylogger is small program, launched, as a rule, without notifying the user, which remembers all his actions: every keystroke, mouse movement, etc. Most often, keyloggers are used by jealous people who want to catch their significant other writing a love letter to an unknown person, but such programs often end up on the computer from world wide web and are used by bad guys to steal data, because everything typed on the keyboard is saved in a file, which is then sent to the attackers.

Are you tired yet? I hope not, but modern reality is a very cruel thing and you need to be prepared for it. These are just a few of the main reasons why people lose access to their accounts. Therefore, follow the rules that we wrote about just above and then you risk getting into similar situation will be reduced to a minimum.

How to come up with a complex password?

Well, friends, now we move on to the most interesting part, namely, we will learn how to create complex passwords. In fact, there is nothing new in the system that will be discussed below, it’s just that many users are not even aware of it.

Where to begin? Perhaps this is why - the minimum number of characters cannot be less than 8. Why exactly 8? According to recent studies, words of 7 digits or less are selected much faster than words of 8, not to mention something larger (for some reasons the difference in selection time is very large). However, we advise you to slightly increase the number of digits to at least 12-14 - in this case, it will be almost impossible to select symbols programmatically, it will take years!

So, now about the most important thing. Take something simple Russian word. Let's say the word is "wallet." Now we take it and write it on English layout, that is, we succeeded,evf;ybr. An excellent set of characters, it must be noted. Now at the beginning or at the end we add one capital letter - V. It turns out V,evf;ybr. Quite good, but that's not all. In the final part we add some any number, for example, the year of your birth is 1975. The final password is: V,evf;ybr1975. It has 13 characters, including letters of different cases, numbers and special characters. Believe me, it will be so difficult for an attacker to find this word that he, most likely, will not even be able to do it!

The password, which you can see just above, is given for informational purposes only and is NOT NECESSARY to use! You can come up with it yourself by following our instructions. Just don't forget your password! To prevent this from happening, write down a set of symbols in your diary or in some notebook and hide it away from human eyes. There is no need to write it down in your phone - someone can see it there, and if the phone is also stolen, then...

By the way, there is special programs For automatic generation and storing passwords on the computer, but I don’t recommend using them - despite the fact that the data is securely hidden in the program, something can happen to the computer and then you can say “Goodbye” to your data... Be careful!

On the social network VK great system security that protects users from guessing passwords for their pages, even if attackers learn logins from other people's accounts. In most cases, when an account is hijacked, the user is to blame, and one of the reasons for this is the simplest password.

What does the simplest password mean? This easy password, which usually consists of just a few numbers or letters. Here are examples of simple passwords:

  • zxcvbn
  • iphone
  • 88888888
  • password
  • andrei

These are just a few examples, but you get the idea and that's the main thing. The more complex, and therefore more secure, the password, the lower the likelihood that the account will be opened by intruders.

How to come up with a complex password for VKontakte?

There are several in various ways how to come up with a password. We will consider one of the popular and at the same time valid schemes.

So, first let's decide on the number of characters in the password. As a rule, experts advise using at least 8 characters, but this is the very minimum (by the way, many users in best case scenario use a 6-digit password). And although 8 characters is the minimum length recommended for a password, the actual number of characters in it should be at least 10-12. Tell me, is this a lot? But account security is hundreds and even thousands of times higher.

Now let's start creating a password. Remember, it must contain both numbers and letters of different case and even special characters.

The simplest option is to take some Russian word and write it in Latin layout. For example, the word smartphone on the English layout it looks like this - cvfhnajy. This word has 8 characters. Few? Wait, we're not done yet.

So the word cvfhnajy. We add a number to it, for example, some kind of memorable one. Let it be the number 201. We get the word cvfhnajy201. Just in case, write the password with capital letters, to complicate the task for attackers and we get Cvfhnajy201. Enough? No, you need to add special characters, For example, * . Now our password looks like this - Cvfhnajy201*, as many as 12 characters, while the password itself is complex, but easy to remember. Of course, it is given as an example and we strongly do not recommend using it - come up with your own, fortunately, it’s simple.

By the way, just in case, you can write down the password itself somewhere in a notepad or notebook, and remove the latter as far as possible from human eyes.

We often talk in step by step instructions site site that passwords need to be created strong, long and complex. But what does all this mean in practice?

Let's understand the topic of creating strong passwords right now and learn how to create good passwords that attackers cannot crack.

Let us immediately note that none of the following tips provides 100% protection against hacking or theft. There is simply no such method in the world that would guarantee accurate protection against scammers!

If hack professionals want to get your password, they will do it, but strong passwords can weed out some newbies and non-specialists, complicate the task of hacking your account and greatly spoil the nerves of attackers, and therefore there is still a point in good passwords.

How do scammers find out your password?

There are several ways to obtain your secret password:

1. Simple theft, theft, password theft:

  • through special programs
  • over the Internet,
  • through fake websites
  • through fake programs,
  • through access to your computer or the sheet of paper on which you write down passwords,
  • finally, through blackmail, torture and interrogation (the latter is a joke, of course, but some girls actually use these methods to extract their boyfriends’ passwords in order to control their correspondence!).

Often these scammers can disguise their goals as completely harmless, for example, you are asked to provide your profile login information in order to enter the program or to confirm your registration or unlock your profile.

2. Social engineering. The essence of the method includes a logical approach and analysis of your person, identifying your personal information (year of birth, names of loved ones, passport details, telephone numbers, names of relatives, names of pets...).

3. Simple search through dictionaries. The simplest and stupidest way that still manages to hack simple passwords, consisting of dictionary words, popular combinations like 123456789 or abcdef or qwert. Here, a program with a built-in dictionary is actually launched and dictionary combinations are searched.

4. Brute search. Similar to the previous method, but includes all possible combinations in general. The system tries any values, and the fraudster hopes for luck that some options may coincide.

Considering the speed of such search (about 100,000 or even 1,000,000 combinations per minute), the probability of a match is quite high.

How to create/come up with a good password

A strong password should:

a) consist of letters and numbers;
b) have 8 or more characters;
c) contain both uppercase (lower case) and lower case;
d) include symbols (not alphanumeric characters);
e) do not coincide with any dictionary word (in all languages).

To quickly create a good password, we would advise taking a memorable phrase or expression that has nothing to do with you and typing it without spaces in the English layout.

At the same time, it is necessary to dilute this phrase simple symbols and numbers, but in such a way that it is illogical. After this, all that remains is to replace a few lowercase letters with uppercase ones, and the job is done, a good password is ready. But all this is easier to understand with examples.

EXAMPLE of creating a good password #1

Step #1

Let's take the same phrase " strong password", we type it in the English layout, we get "yflt; ysq gfhjkm".

Step #2

Now we remove the space between the words and replace a couple of lowercase letters with capital ones, we get “yflt;ysQgfhjKm”.

Step #3

Now let’s add a couple of numbers, for example, at the beginning and end of the phrase, we get “2yflt;ysQgfhjKm1”

TOTAL: our password has 16 characters, there are uppercase and lowercase letters, there are numbers and symbols, there are no dictionary words! This is a good and strong password that is easy to remember using the phrase “2Secure Password1” (only without a space in the center).

EXAMPLE of creating a good password #2

Step #1

Let’s take the following phrase “peace be at home”, type it in the English layout, and get “vbh ljve”.

Step #2

Now let’s remove the space between the words and replace a couple of lowercase letters with capital ones, we get “vBhljVe” (replaced the 2nd from the left and 2nd from the right letters in the phrase).

Step #3

Now let’s add numbers, for example, at the end of the phrase, we get “vBhljVe21”.

Step #4

Let’s complicate the passphrase with some symbol, but not between words, but after the first letter, to make it illogical, we get “v~BhljVe21”

TOTAL: our password has 10 characters, there are uppercase and lowercase letters, there are numbers and symbols, there are no dictionary words. This is how the phrase “peace at home” turns into a cool and complex password for us! And it's easy to remember.

The more illogical and unusual your password creation techniques are, the more secure it will be!

It's so easy to create a complex and secure password that will protect your profile well from simple hacking. At the same time, it is worth remembering that for different sites you should create different passwords, and all of them must comply with the above requirements.

If you ignore these tips, you will use simple combinations, personal data or dictionary words, the same passwords everywhere, don’t be surprised if your profiles are hacked, we warned you….

And under no circumstances enter passwords on sites or programs that raise even the slightest doubt! After all, it’s easier for an attacker to steal your password than to guess it.

Experts in computer security from the University of Cambridge analyzed the structure of more than 70 million passwords. And they found out that the most complex passwords in the world are made by users from Germany and Korea. Moreover, they do it at ease and naturally, without special training. And the secret of the stability of combinations lies in the specifics of their language. They use the same Latin symbols, the same numbers, but take as a basis their native “difficult” words - names, toponyms, terms, etc. For example, Annaberg-Buchholz#122. It’s easy to come up with and remember these options, but choosing them is much more difficult compared to vocabulary words in other languages.

If you, dear reader, do not know Korean or German, this, of course, does not mean that you should ignore complex passwords. They are the key to the security of your data on the Internet (in online payment systems, on websites, forums). This article will tell you what the key requirements for accessing your account must be (what it should be) and how to create it.

Definition of Difficulty

Key complexity is a measure of resistance to selection at the symbolic level using manual and automated methods (logical calculation, dictionary selection). It is determined by the number of attempts the cracker makes, that is, how much time it will take him to calculate the combination compiled by the user.

The following factors affect password complexity:

  • The number of characters in the key. The more characters in the sequence, the better. A combination of 5 characters has a high probability of being hacked quickly. But selecting a sequence of 20 characters can take years, decades and even centuries.
  • Alternating uppercase and lowercase letters. Examples: dfS123UYt key using register capital letters much more complicated than the same combination, but only with small letters - dfs123uyt.
  • Character sets. A variety of symbol types enhances stability. If you make a key from small and capital letters, numbers and special characters 15-20 characters long, there is practically no chance of picking it up.

How to make stable combinations?

The following methods will help you come up with a very complex symbolic key that is easy to remember.

1. Create visual outlines geometric figure or any object on your computer keyboard. And then type the characters along which the lines go.

Attention! Avoid simple “constructions” - lines, squares or diagonals. They are easy to predict.

2. Make up a complex sentence that defies logic. In other words, some pun:

For example: Vaska the cat caught a pike on Jupiter.

Then take the first 2-3 letters of each word from the made-up sentence:
Cat + Va + Na + Yup + st + pike

Type the syllables in Latin letters:
Rjn + Df + Yf + >g + ek + oer

After transliteration, insert between the syllables some numbers that are familiar to you: date of birth, height, weight, age, last or first digits of a telephone number.
Rjn066Df 45Yf 178>g 115ek1202oer

That's all! As you can see, it turned out to be a rather “strong” combination. To remember it quickly, you only need the key (pun sentence) and the numbers used.

3. Take 2 memorable dates as a basis. For example, two birthdays (yours and your loved one).
12.08.1983 05.01.1977

Separate the day, month and year with some special characters:
12|08/1983|05\01|1977

Now replace the zeros in the dates with a small letter “o”.
12|o8/1983|o5\o1|1977

It turns out to be a rather intricate key.

4. Make a special table: place the matrix vertically and horizontally letters and numbers, and in rows and columns - symbols in a chaotic order.

To generate a key, take several simple words, recorded in English letters, for example, my password is very strong

Take the first pair of letters. In our case it is “my”. Find “m” in the vertical list and “y” in the horizontal list. At the intersection of the lines you will receive the first character of the password.

In the same way, through next pairs, find the rest of the key characters.

If you forget your password, use the simple keyword and a table.

How to check password strength?

Sustainability character combination for selection can be found on special web services. Let's consider the most popular:

Online service from antivirus laboratory Kaspersky. Determines, based on the character set and length of the key, how long it will take to crack it on various computers. After analyzing the sequence, the statistics display the time for searching on the ZX-Spectrum (the legendary 8-bit machine of the 80s), Mac Book Pro (2012 models), the Tianhe-2 supercomputer and the Conficker botnet network.

An online utility on the huge service portal 2IP.ru. After sending the key to the server, it displays its status (trusted, unreliable) and the time spent on cracking it.