The 3 Deadly Sins of Password Creation 💀

If you want to build the perfect password, you first need to understand why most passwords fail. Security experts see the same three mistakes—or “sins”—repeated over and over. Let’s see if you’re guilty.

❌ Sin #1: You Use Human Words.

Hackers use “dictionary attacks” that run through millions of real English words in seconds. There are about 170,000 current English words in active use (source: Oxford Dictionary), but most people use only 1,000–3,000 in daily life. So attackers focus on that small pool of familiar words. Even worse, people often use names of pets, kids, sports teams, birthdays, or their favorite band. That’s child’s play for modern password crackers.

❌ Sin #2: You Think You’re Being “Random.”

You’re not. Neither am I. Especially since the human brain just isn’t built for creating passwords! Passwords like these are literally useless:

• 123456
• password
• iloveyou
• princess
• abc123
• rockyou
• 123456789

These all come from real password leaks—"rockyou.txt" is a popular password list that hackers often use when trying to break into accounts.

❌ Sin #3: You Reuse Your Passwords.

If your email, Netflix, or gaming account was hacked years ago and you used the same password elsewhere… it’s game over. Leaked password databases often sell for less than $10 on the dark web. If a hacker wants to access your account, they can simply find a database leak and try those stolen passwords to log in. Because so many people reuse passwords, this method often works.

You can check if your information was part of a data breach here: https://haveibeenpwned.com

If your password appears in a breach and you’re reusing it anywhere else—change it NOW.

What Should Your Master Password Look Like?

So, if you can’t use common words and you can’t make something up in your head, how are you supposed to create a strong password? You’ve got two solid and recommended options.

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