You are here Home Learn Set secure passphrases Set secure passphrases Passphrases are harder to guess but easy to remember Passphrases are the more secure version of passwords Passphrases are made up of four or more random words making them longer than a traditional password. This makes them harder to guess but easy to remember. Changing your passwords to a passphrase is a great way to improve your cyber security. Before you try out passphrases, have you set up MFA? Multi-factor authentication (a combination of something you know, something you have or something you are) is an effective way to protect your accounts against unauthorised access. However, where multi-factor authentication is not available, a strong passphrase is your best defence. When you choose your passphrase, make it: Long The longer your passphrase, the better Aim for at least 14 characters long. Four or more random words that you will remember is great. For example, ‘purple duck potato boat’. Unpredictable The less predictable your passphrase, the better A good passphrase is made up of four or more random words. Sentences don't make great passphrases as they can be easier to guess. For example, it is predictable to have spaces between words, a capital letter at the beginning and punctuation at the end. Using a mix of random words is far more unpredictable and makes stronger passphrases. Unique Don’t recycle your passphrases Use different passphrases for different accounts. Your Facebook password should be different to your email password and so on. 2 minute quiz Think you know how to make a secure passphrase? Loading... Was this information helpful? Was this information helpful? Yes No Thanks for your feedback! Thanks for your feedback! Optional Tell us why this information was helpful and we’ll work on making more pages like it Leave this field blank Want to use passphrases but don’t think you’ll remember them? Try a password manager! Learn the dos and don’ts of securely storing your passphrase. Learn more about passphrases Turn on multi-factor authentication It’s harder for people to guess your details when you have extra checks in place. Recognise and report scams Learn how to recognise scams and who to report them to. Content complexity Simple This rating relates to the complexity of the advice and information provided on the page.
