STANDARDS

CCSS: 6.EE.A.1

TEKS: 6.7A, 7.3A

Powerful Pa$sWoRDs

Sarah White (photo illustration); Elnur/Shutterstock.com (hacker)

Picking a new password usually means mixing numbers, special characters, and uppercase and lowercase letters. But is that really the best way? New guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say that passwords made of several easy to remember words (“turtle box super soda”) make for a much more secure password.

Passwords with more characters are harder for computers to guess and a string of words is easier for us to remember. More good news for people who struggle with passwords: NIST says we should be able to keep the same passwords forever—as long as they’ve never been compromised.

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