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How to Create and Memorize Difficult Passwords

Written By Abe Olandres
Published • December 19th, 2023
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Perhaps the single most controversial topic this year is all about hacking accounts – from as simple as resetting passwords on your Facebook or Gmail to taking over Viber accounts just to use for scamming unsuspecting friends and relatives of the victim, all the way to more complicated or sophisticated interception of OTP for GCash wallets and making social engineering calls to BDO or BPI account holders.

A recent survey on passwords by ExpressVPN revealed that only 1 in every 5 people is aware of and really makes an effort to create complicated passwords. That still opens the other 4 as an easy target.

We can all agree – it all starts with having a strong password that one can still remember and update regularly.

Here’s a simple yet effective guide that can help you:

Use a Phrase and Incorporate Numbers and Symbols: Start with a phrase that’s easy for you to remember and spell.

For example, “No Password, No Entry” can be transformed into a password like “n0p455w0rdn03ntry”. Here, we used a zero “0” for the letter “o”, the number 4 to replace the letter “A”, the number 5 to replace the letter “S” and the number 3 to replace the letter “E”.

Mix Upper and Lowercase Letters: Varying between upper and lowercase letters increases the complexity of your password. In the above example, “No”, “Password”, “No”, and “Entry” all mix upper and lowercase letters, and to easily remember, the first letter of each word is capitalized. You can make this more complicated by making the 2nd or last letter of each word the one that is capitalized.

This transforms our original password to “N0P455w0rdN03ntry” so it satisfies the uppercase and lowercase requirements for a strong password.

Include Numbers and Symbols: Numbers and symbols greatly enhance the strength of your password. You can replace certain letters with numbers or symbols that resemble them (like ‘@’ for ‘a’ or ‘3’ for ‘E’), or insert them at various points in your phrase.

The easiest way is to start and/or end with a special character. This transforms your original example password to as simple as “N0P455w0rdN03ntry!!!” or “@(N0P455w0rdN03ntry)@”. It’s now more complicated but still easy to remember.

Avoid Common Substitutions: While using numbers and symbols is a good idea, avoid common substitutions that are easy to guess.

Length Matters: Longer passwords are generally more secure. Aim for at least 12 characters.

The longer, the better. And since you have some sort of formula, you can still easily remember it. Let’s try that in our example:

“No Password, No Entry” → “No Password, No Entry: Unless You Give Me An Apple”

This is transformed from: “N0P455w0rdN03ntry” to “N0P455w0rdN03ntryUnl355Y0uG1v3Me4n4ppl3”

It may take some time to remember, but as long as you follow your formula, it will still be an easy password for you.

Now, let’s make it more complicated by adding special characters: !N0P455w0rdN03ntryUnl355Y0uG1v3Me4n4ppl3!

Make it Unique: Don’t reuse passwords across different sites. Each password should be unique to each account.

What you can do is append a unique identifier for the site or app, like so:

FaceBook: N0P455w0rdN03ntry<>FB!
GMail: N0P455w0rdN03ntry<>GMail!
BDO: N0P455w0rdN03ntry==BDO!
BPI: N0P455w0rdN03ntry==BPI!

Combine the Modifications. Now, you have the option to use one or more of the modifiers as stated above. The more modifiers you use, the longer and more complicated the password.

All you need to memorize is the base phrase – no password, no entry.

Use a Mnemonic Device: If you’re having trouble remembering your password, create a mnemonic or an image in your mind that will help you recall it.

Consider a Password Manager: If you find it difficult to remember multiple strong passwords, consider using a password manager. These tools can generate and store complex passwords for you, and you only need to remember one master password.

Regularly Update Passwords: Change your passwords regularly to maintain security, especially for sensitive accounts like banking and e-wallets.

Simply replace the base phrase with something easier for you to remember:

Old password: no password no entry becomes -> “N0P455w0rdN03ntry<>FB!”

New password: one password to rule them all -> “0n3P455w0rdT0Rul3Th3m4ll<>FB!”
Still easy to remember, right? That’s because some parts of the new password are still derived from the old one. You don’t have to memorize the whole thing.

Try it Out!

Go ahead and try out these techniques on one simple and less important account and see if you can remember it. Only then can you be comfortable to transition these passwords to more important accounts.

So, have you come up with a new strong password? Let’s test it out!

Head over to the password survey referenced in the introduction and try out the quiz in it. Leave a comment in the comment section and let us know what your quiz result is.

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Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.