It’s essential to use strong passwords for every account. These days, cybercriminals don’t need much effort to crack passwords—they can use basic software and standard hardware to break millions of passwords in seconds.
The more complex and random your password is, the more secure it becomes.
But coming up with (and remembering) complex passwords can be tough. This trick can make it much easier.
Several studies have explored the phenomenon of the earworm—not bugs that crawl into your ear, but those tunes that get stuck in your head.
According to these studies, 90-99% of people experience earworms. We delved into this topic, and it’s fascinating how much research exists around it.
It’s safe to say most of us have had songs stuck in our heads, and we’re going to show you how to use this to your advantage.
Building Strong Passwords from Song Lyrics
Two key factors contribute to creating a strong, secure password:
- The password is long and complex
- The password is unique and not reused across accounts
This means you need to create and remember numerous complex passwords. While the human brain isn’t great at recalling long, random strings of characters, it’s excellent at remembering songs. By leveraging this mental quirk, you can generate strong, unique passwords!
For example, let’s use the chorus from Billie Eilish’s song, “Bad Guy”:
So you’re a tough guy
Like it really rough guy
Just can’t get enough guy
Chest always so puffed guy
I’m that bad type
Make your mama sad type
Make your girlfriend mad tight
Might seduce your dad type
I’m the bad guy
Duh
If we turn this into a password, we could take the first letter of each word or syllable. Here’s what that looks like as I think through the lyrics:
syatglirlrgjcgengcayspg
That’s about half the chorus, and I’ve already got a 23-character password. Not bad! You can generate two characters for multi-syllable words, or not—it’s up to you.
But this password isn’t complex or unique yet. Since “Bad Guy” is a popular song, and Billie’s fans are known as Avocados and Eyelashes, we need to personalize it.
I’ll capitalize the words that stand out to me:
syaTglirlRgjcgENgcaysPg
Next, I’ll replace each instance of “guy” with a number:
syaT2lirlR4jcgEN9caysP5
Finally, I’ll add some special characters:
!syaT2lirlR4jcgEN9caysP5@#)
Now it looks random, but with a little practice, I can type it out while humming the song in my head without looking it up.
This kind of password is ideal for a master password for a password manager, as it’s highly complex and can eventually be memorized through muscle memory.
Obviously, don’t use this exact example. You can do the same with any song that’s meaningful to you, from your wedding song to a catchy jingle from a 90s commercial.
Not Feeling Creative or Random? Try a Password Manager!
If creating random passwords isn’t your strength, a password manager is a great alternative. Modern password managers come with tools to generate secure, random passwords, ensuring your passwords are always complex and unique. The password manager stores these passwords in a secure vault, so you don’t need to memorize each one.
Avoid relying on your web browser to remember and store passwords, as this is less secure. For businesses, an enterprise-grade password management system is recommended to ensure your staff follow good password practices.
We can provide your business with an easy-to-use password manager. It’s affordable and goes a long way in protecting your online accounts. Give us a call today at (973) 882-4644 to get started.