How to create and remember difficult passwords
I’ve seen a million little articles and suggestions on the importance of tough passwords and how to come up with one, but a recent Sunbelt Software newsletter (Sunbelt is the maker of the award-winning and excellent CounterSpy anti-spyware software) included a very practical and usable guide to creating a strong password. This is one of the best suggestions I’ve ever seen that people might actually use. Therefore, I just had to share it with my 3 readers. 
It’s clear by now that a password which is too simple is an accident waiting to happen. If you took the easy way out and use a password that is based on things like your pet’s name (Paris Hilton did that and got hacked) your birth date, the last four digits of your social security number or your kid’s name, “you’re in trouble”.
Like we said before, a passphrase -or- a long password with both letters and numbers is much harder to break. Steve at Micro2000 sent me an example of a long password that looked pretty good:
ks86jw03ts92ctb02. But…how would you remember this one? Ouch!
It’s based off a fictitious Smith family with a daughter named Kelly and a son named Tyler. They have a 2003 Jeep Wrangler and an 02 Chevy Trail Blazer. Now, let’s take those facts and look at the password:
ks86 - Kelly Smith, born in 1986
jw03 - Jeep Wranger, 2003 model
ts92 - Tyler Smith, born in1992
ctb02 - You guessed it, Chevy Trail Blazer, 2002 model year.He simply took the first initials of everyone and everything involved, then the year they were born (or built :-)). It’s a lot tougher to guess a password like that, but still very easy to remember. You can follow his example or make up your own method.
In any event, you get a much stronger password that’s a lot harder to crack.
Source: CounterSpyNews Electronic Newsletter Vol. 1, #8
Link: Sunbelt Software