How to make strong passwords

A strong password is like a lock that can not be broken into. But, how do you make a strong password?

Strong passwords keep you safer online.

Make it creative

A password should have 15 characters or more. Come up with your own fun way to make your passwords strong and easy to remember, but tricky to guess.

For example, combine words like your favourite food + holiday location + animal + special number = pizzabalihorse67

Make it harder to guess

Try to include a mix of numbers, uppercase letters and symbols like $,*, ! to make it harder to guess. For example, Pizza@Bali$Horse_67

Tip: Mix up the order of uppercase letters and special symbols to make it even harder to guess.

Make it unique

Use a different password for all your online accounts. This means that if someone knows one of your passwords, they won’t be able to log in to your other accounts.

Take our Strong Passwords Quiz to test your knowledge!

Play our quiz to test how strong your password making skills are!

If you can’t see the quiz on this page, view it here.

Game transcript

Get Online Week

Strong passwords quiz

Strong passwords keep you safer online. Can you tell the difference between a strong and a weak password? 

Start

Which is a stronger password?

pastathecat1986

password1986

pastathecat1986 – Stronger password

password1986 – Weak password

Top tips

Be creative with your passwords! Stay away from using words that are easy to guess like “password” or your name.

Keep going

Which is a stronger password?

Sydburgercat24

password1986

Sydburgercat24 – Stronger password

password1986 – Weak password

Top tip

Combining important words like your favourite city + food + animal + special number can make your password hard to guess.

Keep going

Which is a stronger password?

Pizzacat44

Pizzacatmelbourne24

Pizzacat44 – Weak password

Pizzacatmelbourne24 – Stronger password

Top tip

Passwords should be 15 characters long or more. Longer passwords make it harder for people and computer to guess.

Keep going

Which is a stronger password?

p3rthpa$tA_puppy34!

Perthpastapuppy34

p3rthpa$tA_puppy34! – Stronger password

Perthpastapuppy34 – Weak password

Top tips

Use numbers, uppercase letters and symbols like $,*, ! to make your password harder to guess.

Try to mix up the order of uppercase letters and special symbols to make it even harder to guess.

Keep going

Which is a stronger password?

pas$words_1967

T@sman1apizzA_1999

pas$words_1967 – Weak password

T@sman1apizzA_1999 – Stronger password

Top tips

Remember to avoid using words that are easy to guess like “password” or your name.

Make your password creative and fun by combining words that are important to you.

Learn more

Learn more Good Things

Visit Good Things website to get more tips on making a strong password.

To learn more go to: https://goodthingsaustralia.org/learn/

End of quiz.

Password managers

It can be hard to remember all your passwords. This is where a password manager app can help! Password manager apps are like having a helper with a great memory. 

If you save your passwords and log in information in your password manager account, it will remember them for you and help you log in to your accounts. You just have to remember the one password that makes the app work.

Some password managers can even create secure passwords for you.

Tip: Most password manager apps cost money.

If you are thinking of using a password manager, think about what you need. Compare different apps features, check reviews and consider costs before choosing if it’s right for you. 

Tip: Your phone may already have a password manager! Android phones have Google Password Manager and Apple phones have Passwords. 

Keep learning

The Good Things learning library has more information on getting connected or go to beconnected.esafety.gov.au

Our thanks to our Get Online Week 2026 Supporting Partner Aussie Broadband for their collaboration on these tips.

Use the button below to download and print out an A4 version of this tipsheet.