



Strong passwords the keys to online security


Adam Turner


If you struggle to keep track of all your passwords, here are some tips and tools to make the job easier.

A grid of characters printed on a card is one easy way to generate complicated passwords.


If the Heartbleed security breakdown left you struggling to keep track of new passwords, it’s time you sought help remembering them all.

Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Dropbox were among the many web giants that fell victim to the Heartbleed security flaw, which may have handed over your passwords to hackers. Changing all these passwords presents the perfect opportunity to rethink the way you devise and keep track of them.

Using the same password for everything is an exceptionally bad idea, but if you were to write them all down, the challenge of committing them all to memory would become apparent. Most of us have accounts for email, messaging and multiple social networking sites, online shopping sites, internet banking, music streaming, movie downloads, cloud backups and more.

That’s a long list, and of course writing them down is exactly what you’re not supposed to do. You’re meant to keep them safely locked away in your head, but that’s not easy.

Many people do succumb to temptation and write their passwords down. In some ways it’s helpful, because you’re then less tempted to use passwords such as ‘‘letmein’’, which are easy to remember but also easy to crack. Long and complicated passwords offer better security against hackers.

One trick for remembering strong passwords is to use a phrase. Take the first letters of the first words of the national anthem, throw in some capitalisation, numbers and symbols, and you’ve got a password that is complicated but memorable, such as AaLuR>FwAyAf>1788.

If you insist on writing them down, you need to keep that list safe. Don’t stick post-it notes on your monitor. Write your passwords in a notebook and hide it away from your computer, preferably under lock and key. Even then it’s best to not to write down your most sensitive passwords, such as for online banking.

Keeping your password list in your wallet or purse seems convenient, but it also increases the chances of it falling into the wrong hands. If you do keep the list on your person, it’s vital to scramble it. One option is to write down password hints rather than your actual passwords, as long as your passwords aren’t something simple such as the names of your children, pets or favourite footy players – facts people can discover about you. These are almost as bad as ‘‘qwerty’’, ‘‘123456’’ or the ever popular ‘‘password1’’.

Or you might write down the second half of each password and use these in conjunction with a common prefix, or series of prefixes, which you never write down but can easily remember – such as AaLuR. Rather than list the accounts the passwords are for, you might colour-code them, alphabetise them according to the service provider or even embed a subtle reminder in the password. Transposing characters or adding dummy letters are useful tricks, but whatever your method, you’re still taking a risk writing them down.

The most secure passwords are complete gibberish, but they are also harder to remember. There are useful tools for creating and remembering random passwords, if you’re prepared to go to a little more effort – effort that might save a lot of grief in the long run.

A grid of characters printed on a card is one way to generate complicated passwords. lets you print a grid of random characters based on a master password. Each row is printed in a different colour and each column has a different symbol at the top. Remembering that your Facebook password is Green Triangle gives you the starting point on the grid, from which you can read as many characters as you like in any direction. The grid is simple to read, as long as you remember your system, but meaningless to anyone else. You’ll find other grid-based password generators at, and

Writing down your passwords on your computer, smartphone or tablet seems more practical than a sheet of paper but it’s a lot riskier. Once your list is stored on your gadgets and/or in the cloud, it’s vulnerable to hackers, even if your device is locked with a password.

Using the Notes app on your smartphone, or even an app designed to hide files, is a bad idea if that password file is backed up unencrypted to your computer or the cloud.

There are secure password management and password grid apps, or you might simply keep a photo of your printed password grid.

The same tricks for scrambling a written list of passwords are sensible precautions if you insist on typing out a list of passwords, but it’s still a bad idea.

Most web browsers offer to remember your passwords, but some, such as Google Chrome, don’t protect that list with a master password – so anyone using your computer can see them. Some people regard this as a flaw but Google says a master password only creates a false sense of security. If someone gets their hands on your computer and knows what they’re doing, it’s not difficult to bypass your screensaver password and the browser’s master password to uncover your list of saved passwords.

For an extra level of security you might use a password management service such as 1Password, LastPass, Roboform or KeePass. Some store your passwords in an encrypted file on your computer, and others store them in the cloud. Most work with a browser plug-in, automatically entering your passwords once you type in your master password – which you should never write down. You’ll also find apps for accessing your encrypted password list from mobile devices.

These password management services are much more secure than keeping your passwords in a text document. The safest option is to commit all your passwords to memory, but if you must write them down, take sensible precautions to keep your secrets safe.

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