Protect your passwords with a passphrase

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Introduction

You should be using a password manager to protect your digital life. But what if you want to take it one step further? The answer is passphrases, which can be much more secure than passwords alone.

What is passphrase?

Passphrases are often made of three to five common words put together. The easiest way to think about them is that they’re like a password but easier to remember. For example, you could use “Iamomom” as your passphrase. Passphrases are often used in conjunction with other security measures such as 2-factor authentication (2FA).

How to use a passphrase

I will get right to the point; thee key things to keep in mind on using passphrases:

• Use your own passphrase. If you’re using a passphrase for the first time, you might be tempted to use the same one as someone else. But that’s not what makes it secure — it’s easy for an attacker to guess a common phrase and try it against other people’s accounts.
• Make sure it is easy to remember. You don’t have to memorize your passphrase, but you should be able to quickly recall it from memory if necessary.
• Make sure it is not easy to guess or brute force. Passphrases are usually longer than typical passwords and contain both letters and numbers (usually upper case). You may want to include punctuation or special characters in addition to numbers and letters — this helps keep your password safe from brute force attacks (when an attacker tries every possible combination until they find yours).

Don’t use the same password for everything.

You should use a different password for every site you visit. It makes your life easier, and it makes it harder for hackers to steal your information.

If you’re like most people, you probably have dozens of websites that require passwords: work email accounts, bank accounts, social media profiles, shopping sites… the list goes on and on. If all of these passwords were stored somewhere in your head (which they shouldn’t be), you’d have a hard time remembering them all!

Instead of using one single password everywhere, try creating unique passwords for each site with which you sign up — and store them in a secure password manager so that they’re available when needed. This will make accessing accounts easier by eliminating the need to remember dozens or even hundreds of complicated codes.

Use a secure password manager.

It’s important to use a secure password manager. A secure password manager helps you create and keep track of strong, unique passwords for every site you use.

There are many different types of secure password managers, including:

• Password vaults: These are desktop applications that store your passwords in an encrypted database file. Some popular examples include LastPass, KeePassXC, and Enpass.
• Browser extensions: Browser extensions (such as 1Password) can be used to auto-fill login information as you visit websites or enter passwords into web forms, but they don’t create or store passwords for you.

Passphrases can be more secure than passwords.

Passphrases are a series of words that you create to help secure your accounts. It’s important to note that passphrases are different from passwords in that they don’t have to be made up of a single word. Passphrases can be longer and more memorable, which makes them more efficient for the user in terms of typing speed and memorability, while also making them more secure than passwords.

Conclusion

I hope that you now feel more confident about using passphrases to protect your online accounts. While they aren’t perfect and can be compromised just like any other security measure, they offer an extra layer of protection against hackers who are trying to get into your accounts by brute-forcing their way through passwords. With a good passphrase in place, it might take them years before they find out what it is!