Passwords, although often seen as simple combinations of characters, are actually open windows that reflect our daily lives. In addition to the need for security, psychology greatly influences our password choices. It reveals unexpected aspects of our personality and our experiences.
In today’s digital age, creating a secure password is more than necessary. Indeed, our choice of passwords says a lot about our psychology, our mindset and our behavior.
What our passwords say about us
Our passwords are not randomly selected. They are usually associated with experiences, emotions or people who are important to us. For example, a name, birthday or favorite place can be embedded, revealing a personal connection.
According to an exciting study he conducted She, our password choices can be categorized into different psychological typologies. “Affective” prefer terms related to their relationships, while “strategic” opt for more complex combinations.
Study of Lastpass emphasizes the importance of not neglecting to create passwords. Carelessness in this area can open the door to hackers. How to choose a strong password that reflects our psychology?
6 practical tips to follow for choosing a good password
Choosing a good password is as important as your health. Under no circumstances should you ignore it if you want to protect your online accounts from unauthorized access, identity theft and other cyber threats.
A strong password must be complex enough to prevent hackers easy to hit while remaining memorable to its rightful owner.
Follow these tips to set a good password
1. Length
Your password must contain at least twelve alphanumeric and special characters. The longer it is, the harder it will be to penetrate with automated attacks such as brute force.
2. Complexity
A combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols is the best solution for password complexity. However, avoid using logical arrays or simple models as they are often targeted by hackers.
3. Personalization
The days when passwords looked the same are behind us. I mean, of course, these famous passwords (password, 1234, 123456, etc.) known to everyone. Be simple and creative when composing your password. For example, you can base your password on a phrase, Bible verse or quote that inspires you, but never use it literally. Instead, take the first letters of each word, replace some of the letters with numbers or symbols, and add random characters at the beginning and end.
4. Regular change
It’s not just operating systems that need updates. If you want to protect your accounts, we advise you to change your passwords every 3 months for a maximum of 6 months to avoid hacking. Know that no password is foolproof, no matter how long it lasts, it will become vulnerable. For greater security, write them down administrator secure passwords instead of saving them directly in your browser or on paper.
5. Single use
No matter how strong your password is or how easy it is to remember, never use the same password for multiple accounts. Otherwise, if only one of them experiences a data breach, all the others will also be exposed to intrusions.
6. Resistance test
The best defense in the world is one that knows its weak points. Therefore, you need to check the strength of your new password using online tools that simulate hacking attempts. They can tell you how long it would theoretically take a hacker to decrypt it, allowing you to adjust its complexity if needed.
Emotional and digital security
Looking more closely at our character choices, real psychology emerges. Capital letters can reflect our determination, numbers can be associated with memorable dates, and special characters can be an expression of our creativity.
Password security doesn’t have to sacrifice our emotional well-being. The key is to find a balance between the necessary complexity and ease of memory. Solutions like Password Manager can ease the burden and increase security.
Choosing a password goes beyond just securing online accounts. It is a window into our inner world. On that note, if we can understand the psychology behind our password choices, we can strengthen security while preserving our privacy.
Make it a deliberate practice and protect yourself intelligently. With these tips, you’re now ready to make the most of the psychology behind passwords.