Creating better passwords

I just checked out the meaning of the word “entropy” and here’s one of the definitions I found:

lack of order or predictability

Entropy makes for, among other things, great computer passwords. That’s the premise behind a neat tool called Diceware, a tool I learned about after reading this article sent to me by fellow freelance writer Jane Langille.

Entropy is one of the criteria that the Diceware site implicitly lists as essential for a passphrase. Here’s the full list of what a passphrase should be, right from Diceware’s site:

Known only to you
Long enough to be secure
Hard to guess — even by someone who knows you well
Easy for you to remember
Easy for you to type accurately

Diceware is more of a simple concept than a full-fledged online tool. The only things you need to generate a password that meets the above criteria are:

• paper
• pen
• die (singular of dice, the six-sided cube used in playing games)
• the free Diceware list that you can download from Diceware’s site.

Read the “Using Diceware” section of the site and create a password or two. This might be the easiest way to create secure passwords that you’ll actually remember.

This isn’t the only method you can use to create a strong password you can easily remember. You can have some fun generating three-word passwords using your location on a map. Check out this blog post to see what I mean.