Modern “brute-force password crackers” can crack a password of 8 or less characters in less than 4 hours, but 12 or more characters takes years to crack. So length over complexity is far better for creating secure passwords. Even simple phrases like “MyDogRunsFast” is surprisingly more secure than “Er@42!.” When thinking of a secure password, you can use simple phrases that are easy to remember as long as they’re at least 12 characters long, and to make it even more secure, mix in upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.

Tips for creating a secure password

1. Use 12 or more characters
2. Include numbers, upper and lower case letters and special characters
3. Don’t use the same password for different sites
4. Test your password in a reputable Password Strength tester, like bitwarden’s password checker: https://bitwarden.com/password-strength/