Here’s how to create tough-to-crack passwords
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Be honest. You’ve used the same password for several accounts. It’s a common mistake that could make you more susceptible to fraud.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, which was up 25% from the year prior. In a lot of cases, we’re leading criminals right into our accounts with passwords that aren’t strong enough.
“Passwords are essential. It’s essentially the keys to your house,” said Abdullah Aliya from BOK Financial. “One of the most common mistakes people make are using commonly used words or information that’s available online. I know a lot of people are guilty of using their kids’ names, pets’ names, other loved ones, dates of birth, as their passwords. Those are things that are easily found online and can be easily exploited.”
There are a different methods Aliya recommends to create stronger passwords. The first is the passphrase method. Here’s an example: "Myd0gs83pinkfr()gs" stands for “My dogs ate three pink frogs.” The phrase makes no sense, but it will be easy for you to remember.
Another option is the mnemonic sentence method. In this example, “Iltsi@lB4Icw()l” appears to be a random series of letters, numbers and symbols, but it’s actually the first letter of each word in a sentence. In this case, "Iltsi@lB4Icw()l" translates into “I learned to swim in a lake before I could walk on land.”
Aliya says strong passwords should have at least 16 characters.
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