For years, websites have demanded we create passwords like P@ssw0rd1!. We are told to add numbers, capital letters, and symbols to be safe. But modern cryptography tells a different story. It turns out that a password's length is far more important than its complexity.
What is Entropy?
In cybersecurity, "entropy" is a measure of randomness or disorder. It effectively measures how many guesses a hacker would need to make to crack your password using a brute-force attack.
Think of it this way: A password with high entropy is mathematically expensive to guess. A password with low entropy, even if it looks complicated to a human, might be easy for a computer to guess.
The Math: Short & Complex vs. Long & Simple
Let's compare two passwords:
- Password A:
Tr0ub4dor&3(Complex, 11 characters). It looks hard, but humans are predictable. We swap 'o' for '0' and 'a' for '@'. Hackers know this. - Password B:
correct horse battery staple(Simple words, 28 characters). This is the famous XKCD method.
Mathematically, Password B is exponentially harder to crack. Every character you add to a password multiplies the difficulty. Adding a single letter to a 10-character password makes it 26 times harder to crack. Adding a symbol makes it even harder. But adding 5 extra characters? That makes it trillions of times harder.
Why You Should Avoid Patterns
The human brain is terrible at being random. When asked to pick a random number, most people pick 7. When asked to create a password, most people capitalize the first letter and put a number at the end (e.g., Summer2025!). Brute force algorithms are optimized to guess these patterns first.
How to Create a Strong Password
The best password is one that is generated by a computer, not a human. A random generator has no bias. It doesn't care about dates, names, or common words.
Our Password Generator tool allows you to create passwords with specific length and character requirements. We recommend generating a password of at least 16 characters. If you use a password manager (which you should), you don't even need to remember it.
Generate Secure Keys
Create 20+ char passwords instantly.
Conclusion
Stop relying on your memory and "clever" substitutions like `@` for `a`. They don't fool modern cracking software. The only true defense is mathematical length and true randomness. Use our tool to generate a long, secure string and keep your accounts safe.