Staying safe
Create a strong password and remember it
What you will be able to do In 5 minutes, you'll know how to build a strong password you'll remember.
A password works like a key: it closes the door to an account, and only it opens it. Many people believe a good password is a complicated word, full of odd symbols, impossible to remember. It's almost the opposite. What makes a password hold up is, first of all, its length, because a machine that tries thousands of combinations per second takes far longer on a long string than on a short one. Hence the sentence method: you start from a sentence of your own, long and easy to remember, and you keep pieces of it. We're going to build one together, on a screen we designed. Nothing here is real, so nothing can happen to you.
Simulated screen
I practice
This screen was drawn by us. Nothing is sent, nothing is installed, and no real brand is shown.
The situationA site asks you to choose a password, and you're out of ideas.
The interactive exercise needs JavaScript. The written step by step, just below, says exactly the same thing.
The written step by step
The same steps, in words, to read or print. This sheet works even without the exercise.
Longer wins
Your turn Three passwords for the same account. Touch the one that holds up best.
The strongest is MyOldCatSleepsOnTheRadiator: twenty seven characters, taken from a sentence you remember effortlessly.
The starting sentence
Your turn Everything starts with a sentence. Touch the one that makes a good base.
The right base is a scene from your own home, never told online: my old cat sleeps on the blue radiator.
The pieces you keep
Your turn Your sentence is there. Touch the password that makes the best use of it.
We join the words of the sentence, then add a number and a symbol: MyOldCatSleepsOnTheBlueRadiator9!, thirty three characters.
Where your sentence lives
Your turn You have your sentence. Touch the place where you keep it.
We write the sentence in a paper notebook, kept at home with important papers, out of sight and off any screen.
Who you give it to
Your turn Someone asks you for your password. Touch what you do.
A password is given to nobody, ever: not to support, not to a relative. You get guided, and you type it yourself.
The sheet to keep
- What makes a password hold up is, first of all, its length, not odd symbols.
- The CNIL and the ANSSI, the French data protection and cybersecurity authorities, recommend at least twelve characters with uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special characters. The CNIL also accepts fourteen characters without a special character, or a passphrase of at least seven words.
- The sentence method: a sentence of your own, long and ordinary, whose words you join together, plus a number and a symbol at the end.
- A sentence of your own, never told online, is worth more than a well known proverb or a birth date.
- A paper notebook kept at home is an honest solution. Paper stuck on the screen, a phone note, and an email sent to yourself are not.
- No company, no administration, no support team ever asks for your password.
The reflexes in this skill
One account, one door: every door has its own key
A password reused everywhere turns one leak into a break in everywhere. A long passphrase for each important account, written down somewhere safe, holds up better than a complicated password used again and again.
No one serious ever rushes me
No threats, no countdown, no secret to keep. And asking for help is a reflex, not a failure: saying it out loud to someone makes most scams fall apart.
Two questions to check
Nothing is graded, and nothing is saved anywhere except in your own browser.
Between a very complicated six character password and an easy to remember twenty seven character password, which holds up better?
See the answer
The longer one, because length is what resists best
A machine tries thousands of combinations per second, and every added character multiplies the work needed. The CNIL even treats fourteen characters without a special character as equivalent to twelve with one.
Where can you write down the sentence your password is based on?
See the answer
In a paper notebook kept at home, out of sight
A notebook kept at home can't be reached remotely. A note left near the screen can be read by anyone, and the mailbox is exactly the account people try to break into first.
I've done it
Check this box once you can do this skill on your own.
Your progress stays in your own browser.