How in the Tech

Does Your Password Pass the Strength Test?

By Adam Myers ⋅ February 3, 2009 ⋅ Tags: Internet, Security

You are probably familiar with the conditions that are to be met in order to deem a password as strong or not – that is, is it susceptible to a brute force or guessing attack. A strong password should include letters, numbers, mixed case, and special characters. But how much of each is enough? Obviously a password such as fjk&*Ddf!32 is rather secure and likewise as obvious, difficult to remember! A happy medium must be sought and thankfully, sites like The Password Meter can assist in the task.

The Password Meter is an online password strength test that is very easy and straightforward to use. You supply the password and the site assesses a score for a multitude of tests; add up your final score and you should have a rough idea of whether your supplied password is sufficient or not.

1. As you type your password, The Password Meter gets right to work – in real time.



2. The battery of tests are organized in two groups: Additions and Deductions. Each line item has an icon that visually represents how your password scored on the test.



3. You want to be seeing more Blue than Red.

My password of adam123 is unsurprisingly awful with a score of just 33%. A strong password isn’t overly difficult to achieve though. A few easy tweaks to the previous simple password results in Adam@123 and a score of 75%. I would not  suggest using a password less than 75%.