Passphrases or passwords—which one is more successful when it comes to keeping information secure?
To keep people out of the digital world, the simple password has been the first line of defence. Are we ready for a new method, though, since cyber threats are getting smarter? A secret key is needed for many things, like unlocking your phone, getting into your bank account, or signing in to social media. What would happen if that one key was lost or stolen? The ripple effects could be terrible! This brings up an interesting argument in the world of cybersecurity: should people use passphrases or passwords? The question we’re trying to answer is which one is a better defence against cyberattacks. Get ready for a journey into the world of encrypted messages and secret words.
What does a password do?
An alphanumeric mix of letters, numbers, and special characters is used as a password to confirm who is logging into an account. From personal email to online banking, passwords are frequently used to protect devices, networks, and other online services.
Passwords are usually between 8 and 10 characters long, while passphrases are generally longer. However, experts in password security say that a password should be at least 12 characters long to make sure it is hard to guess.
Also, experts say that passwords should be harder to guess by using an odd mix of numbers, letters (upper and lowercase), and special characters.
What’s a passphrase?
A passphrase is a group of words that come together to make a phrase that people can remember. Spaces are typically present between the words in a sentence.
Passphrases should be longer than 14 characters and include things that don’t go together to make them safer. Some people think that a passphrase is safer than a regular password because it is longer and more complicated. A passphrase works because longer words or sentences are harder to break using brute force, which is when someone tries a lot of different password combinations until they find one that works.
The main benefit of a passphrase is that it uses words that aren’t linked to make a memorable phrase. It is acceptable to use any of the following passphrases:
Correct Horse Battery Staple
Sunshine, rainbows, and butterflies
Jazz Music Coffee Lover
Guitar Pizza, Football Tacos
It’s easier to remember passphrases that are made up of a bunch of odd words than a long string of characters that don’t go together. You can use any language you want; grammatical correctness is not a requirement for it.
But it’s best to stay away from everyday words. For instance, it might not be hard for hackers to figure out the following passphrases:
Iloverockandroll
helloworldhowareyou
Happybirthdaytome!
Imwalkingonsunshine
thisisareallylongphrase
Passphrases can be used to protect many types of accounts, from email and online banking to social media sites. They are a good and safe way to prove your identity, especially when combined with other methods like two-factor authentication (2FA) or biometric proof.
What are the main ways that passphrases and passwords are different?
Passwords and passphrases are both made to make it difficult for anyone else to access your accounts. But they are not the same in a few important ways, such as:
Length.
Most of the time, passwords are shorter than passphrases. Security experts say that passwords should have at least 12 characters, but most passwords are only 8 to 10 letters long. However, these passwords are not strong enough to protect your account. Hackers are able to simply figure out passwords that are brief.
Structure.
A password could be a single word, a group of words, or a long string of characters that don’t go together. Many times, a passphrase is just a string of words with spaces between them. Although spaces aren’t usually used in passwords, many sites let you use them to make passwords safer.
Complexity.
Longer than passwords, passphrases are more difficult. Using different letter, number, and character combinations, you can make a short but hard-to-guess password. Most of the time, though, a passphrase will still be harder to guess than a password because it is longer. It is much harder to guess longer passphrases.
Your reasons for not wanting to make use of passwords
When we first started using passwords, many of us used personal ones, like the name of a pet, a favorite flower, or a nickname from childhood.
Hackers learn these passwords by looking at the user’s name, social media sites, and other online data.
After that came passwords that were not personal, like using a plain, random word from the dictionary. Hackers could figure it out with the help of tools that crack dictionaries, though, if you used a dictionary word. Attacks like these are called “dictionary attacks,” and they try all words and names that are known to get into your password. If your password is just a dictionary word, it’s much easier for someone to get into your account.
We began making passwords with a mix of numbers, letters, and special characters to protect ourselves from these threats. Even though these kinds of combos make things more difficult, people are also pretty predictable. It’s now normal to use special characters instead of letters, like:
@ (use instead of “a”)
1 (use “l” instead of “i”)
3 (in place of “e”)
$ (in place of “s”)
0 (in place of “o”)
5 (change “s” to “t”)
We’ve made passwords longer and more complicated to stop this from happening.
Even though they are harder to remember, complicated passwords can still keep hackers out. Users have to change their passwords more often or find safe ways to save them and have them automatically filled in.
Why you should use passphrases instead of passwords
Now that you know why passwords might not be the best option, let’s look at why passphrases are a better choice.
Passphrases are simple to remember.
Most of the time, passphrases are simpler to remember than passwords. It’s definitely hard to remember a long password; it has a lot of special characters and has different uppercase and lowercase letters. While passphrases like “Correct Horse Battery Staple” are harder to forget, we can remember them.
It’s harder to figure out passphrases.
To get past passwords, hackers use a variety of tools, some of which are very advanced technologically. Longer and more intricate passphrases are usually more difficult to decipher.
Apps let you use longer passphrases.
Most of the major programs and running systems let you use passwords with up to 127 characters. Because there are so many characters, you can make passphrases with five words or more, which is much harder for hackers to figure out.
There are a lot of requirements that passphrases need to adhere to.
It’s simple to change a passphrase to meet rules about how complicated it is. Instead of putting together five things that don’t go together, you could add a special character, make sure each word starts with an uppercase letter, or add a number at the end. Either way, your passphrase would still work.
How to make a strong passphrase that you can remember
A good way to keep your accounts safe is to come up with a strong, unique passphrase. You can accomplish the following things, among others:
Use things that don’t go together.
When making a passphrase, don’t use things that are related to each other, like “different kinds of berries.” It’s easier for cybercriminals to guess words that are connected, but it’s harder for them to guess words that are not related.
Don’t use common phrases.
If hackers want to use the brute force method, they might start with nursery rhymes, song lines, or quotes. To make a passphrase strong, use things that don’t go together or make sense.
Use strange words.
Hackers will always be able to figure out common words faster. For a stronger passphrase, use a random line of strange words that have nothing to do with each other.
Both capital and tiny letters should be used.
Even though using only lowercase letters might not make the passphrase easy to figure out, why not make it even more secure by mixing them with uppercase letters? In the unlikely event that a hacker figures out your passphrase, they will also have to guess which letters are capital and which are small.
Minimum 15-character passphrase.
Long passwords have always been a good idea, according to security experts. A password needs to have at least 12 characters, but a passphrase needs at least 15 characters to be extra safe.
Think about using five words.
It will be harder to figure out your passphrase if you use a lot of words. If you already know a four-word line by heart, use five to make it even safer. You could even make up a correct sentence, as long as it’s not popular or expected.
For every account, use a different term.
One of the most important rules about passwords is that each account should have a different password. Passphrases are the same way. If you use the same passphrase over and over, someone who knows it could get into more than one of your accounts. For security, use different words and sentences for each account.
Conclusion
Both passwords and passphrases have their good points, but passphrases are the safer way to keep information safe. Because passphrases are long and complicated, brute force attacks and other common hacking methods can’t easily break them. They also make it easier for users to remember their passwords, which lowers the risk of forgetting them, which can damage password security. In order to keep our digital names and assets safe from cyber threats, it is smart to use passphrases whenever we can.
