News
10 November, 2025
Powerful passwords
IN last month’s Tech Time piece, we discussed what we share online and why it’s important to pause and think before posting pictures or videos. A little reflection can save a lot of future trouble.
This month, the focus is on the humble password and how to be smarter and safer with them. For years, IT and cybersecurity experts have recommended complex passwords—combinations of numbers, letters, and symbols, eight to twelve characters long, reset every 60–90 days.
The problem is that simple passwords like Friday$1239 can be cracked in 22 minutes. Substituting characters, such as turning “I” into “1,” doesn’t help much. On the other hand, extremely complex passwords like T#Hyj67&3E may take 95 million years to crack, but they’re hard to remember. Many people reuse such passwords across accounts, which is risky if one platform is breached—potentially giving hackers access to every account.
The solution is simpler than it seems. First, get a password manager like LastPass, 1Password, or Keeper. Free versions are available for personal use. Then, create a strong master passphrase for the manager. A passphrase is a combination of multiple words—at least four, but more is better. For example:
fried spinach cheese omelette toast
This type of passphrase is long, easy to remember, and estimated to take 720 billion years to crack. Use it only to unlock your password manager.
Once set up, use the password manager to generate extremely long, complex passwords for each platform you use. Some platforms allow 128-character passwords with symbols, numbers, and uppercase letters—passwords you won’t remember, but the manager will. If a site is breached, you can reset that account without affecting others.
Password managers encrypt your data to help prevent access even if the manager itself is breached, giving you strong protection with just one master password to remember—a win-win.
For more cyber safety tips, visit https://cyberunicorns.com.au and explore our cyber education subscriptions. Don’t forget to download the Cyber Unicorns app to get the most out of our resources.
Next month, we’ll take it a step further and look at adding multifactor authentication to your accounts.
