Dr Junade Ali, IET fellow and cyber-security expert, reminds us that longer is better when it comes to securing our assets with uncrackable but memorable passwords.

Every few days it seems there is yet another data breach of passwords online, and it gets ever harder for us to keep on top of our cyber security – even for those of us who do this for a living. But in an evolving online world, having strong passwords is more important than ever.

When the first computer password emerged in 1961, it was never intended to secure our most valuable assets as society eventually moved online. However, over the following decades, more complex password rules were implemented to improve their security. Users were asked to remember complex passwords containing punctuation and numbers.

This led to another problem: people were only remembering one complex password and reusing it across multiple websites. That meant when a low-value website was compromised, a user’s entire online life could be taken over...