Password Conundrum

How to Create a Password You Will Instantly Forget

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to sign up for a weekly newsletter about artisanal concrete or checking your dental records, and the security algorithm demands a password that can withstand a cyberattack from a rogue nation-state.
The goal used to be creating a password that hackers couldn't guess. But today, the true gold standard of cybersecurity is creating a password so impossibly convoluted that even you, the account owner, have no hope of ever remembering it. After all, if you don't know your password, how can a hacker?
Here is your foolproof, step-by-step guide to achieving peak digital security through total self-induced amnesia.

Step 1: The "Random Single Character" Foundation

Forget words. Words have meaning, and meaning is a vulnerability. Instead, start with a single, lonely letter that has absolutely no emotional significance to you. Let's go with a lowercase g.
Why g? Exactly. There is no reason.
Next, immediately follow it with a single, unprompted number. Let's use 7.
You now have g7. It’s short, it’s punchy, and if you stop here, you will already forget whether you used a lowercase g or an uppercase G by tomorrow morning. But we can do better.

Step 2: The Emotional Rollercoaster Method

To make it truly un-recallable, you need to mix in arbitrary bursts of aggression. Caps lock is your friend here, but only when used randomly.
Take your g7 and violently append an uppercase Q.
Why? Because you clicked the shift key with your left pinky finger while sneezing.
Follow that up with a single 0 (or is it an uppercase O? Perfect, now neither of us knows).
Our current security masterpiece: g7Q0

Step 3: Throw in the Keyboard Trash

A great password requires you to look at your keyboard, find the characters you use the least, and mash them together like a toddler playing a piano.
Let's add:
• A single percent sign % (requires two hands to type on a mobile device)
• A lowercase x (because who uses x?)
• The number 3 (to add just enough math to make your brain hurt)
We are now looking at: g7Q0%x3

Step 4: The Final Touch of Chaos

To ensure you are locked out of your own bank account forever, end the password with a single capital letter that looks exactly like another character. Let's use a capital I (which, depending on the font the website uses, will look identical to a lowercase l or a number 1).
Your final, un-hackable, un-rememberable password is:
g7Q0%x3I

How to "Remember" It

Now that you've created this masterpiece, you have two choices for storage:
1. Write it on a neon yellow sticky note and glue it directly to the bezel of your monitor where your coworkers and houseguests can easily read it.
2. Commit it to memory, which guarantees you will be clicking the "Forgot Password" link and staring blank with regret at a password reset email within the next 45 seconds.
Congratulations. You are now completely safe from the internet, and also from your own data.
3. Make sure you haven't included any letters from your mothers maiden name or your name, just to be safe DO NOT include any letters from your personal data or your family or close friends and then friends of friends data. 

Summary

Terry Webbs
On a serious note: if you are struggling with passwords, there is hope, in the form of no nonsense lateral thinking. Come up with one memorable password without all the fanciness, simply make the first letter capital add a favourite number and a plus sign to the end, then add some letters from the company or website name to the end of the password