14 Character Password Ideas and Examples

This article explores 14 character password ideas and examples, providing you with ample inspiration to create new robust, memorable passwords that safeguard your online activities. A strong password is especially necessary if your goal is to create a new seriously strong password for a password manager such as NordPass or 1Password.

Understanding the Building Blocks of 14 Character Passwords

Before jumping into 14 character password examples, it’s import to cover the typical characters that contribute to a secure password. Most English-language keyboards offer a repertoire of 94 characters, divided as follows:

• 26 lowercase letters (a-z)
• 26 uppercase letters (A-Z)
• 10 digits (0-9)
• Approximately 32 special characters (e.g., !, @, #, $, %, etc.)

Given these elements, a 14 character password can leverage this diversity to enhance its security. Each additional character in a password exponentially increases the complexity and the number of possible combinations, making it significantly more challenging for hackers to crack.

The Mathematics Behind Password Strength - 10, 12, and 14 Character Passwords

To appreciate the fortitude of a 14 character password, consider the mathematics behind it. With approximately 100 random characters available on a standard English keyboard, a 14 character password can theoretically possess around 100^14 combinations. This figure equates to a staggering 10,000 trillion trillion possibilities, rendering it computationally infeasible for attackers to break via brute force methods.

Why 14 Character Passwords? Why not 10 or 12?

Based on the maths above, if we are looking at truly random digits, then each new character increases the difficulty of a password being “brute forced” by a factor of 100. This makes sense intuitively, if we only relied on numerical digits in our password, each digit increases difficulty by a factor of 10, but when we widen the number of characters to all contained in a keyboard, the factor increases to 100.

It is clear that each random character added to a password makes it 100x harder to hack, this means, that doubling the length of a password from 6 to 12, doesn’t make it twice as hard to hack it makes it (100 x 100 x 100 x 100 x 100 x 100) times harder to crack, or 1 trillion times harder. This makes the difference between 1 second and 32, 000 years to crack your password. Companies do enforce 12-14 character password minimums for a reason.

Yet, people are not adept at remembering arbitrary sequences of characters, which demonstrates the need for creative strategies in password creation.

Incorporating Randomness and Memorability in Password Design

Historically, the belief prevailed that the more complex a password appears, the more secure it becomes. However, what’s difficult for a computer might be inadvertently straightforward for a human, and vice versa. For example, replacing the letter “a” with the at symbol ”@”, which hackers can easily substitute. Instead of relying solely on randomized characters, integrating meaningful yet random components can bolster both memorability and security.

Consider real-world names—geographical place names, surnames, and more. A conservative estimate suggests at least 1 million names exist, which translates to 100^3 when expressing randomness (100 x 100 x 100 = 1 million). For instance, a single randomly picked name like “Millerdale” (picked randomly from a map) can effectively substitute three random characters like ”£$h”. By this logic, 5 random words can be just as effective as a completely random 14 character password. Of course, the more unique the word the better, for example, if you’re travelled to an exotic location, or know some words in a foreign language.

14 Character Password Ideas

While you can be inspired by our guide, password ideas should always come from within. For example, take the following random names (picked randomly from a map, but choose something with meaning to you): “Pine Ridge”, “Williams”, “Sunshine”, “Shermantown”. Merging these seemingly random yet meaningful names can form powerful passwords, remember, that you are choosing your own significant words, and thus coming up with your own password ideas, so your password will have a much greater affinity to you than the one we are suggesting. Always choose your own words, it is inadvisable to look for password idea word lists, hackers use these too. Think of something unique and memorable to you. For example, a cherished place you’ve visited, slang, a word in a foreign language you know, a word in English. While each particular word could be guessed, the string of 3 or 4 words concatenated together, would be exceedingly difficult for any hacker to guess, even if they’re using a super computer that can process tens of billions of passwords/minute.

Here we combine 4 place names to form a password that beats the 14 character password requirements.

MillerdalePineSunshineMattagmi1!

This password is just as secure as random strings such as ”£_h*u$h£43T3!3”, yet eschewing a password for a passphrase harnesses conceptual associations that make them more accessible to recall. However, many companies still require arguably legacy password complexity rules, which you’ve undoubtedly seen, which have arbitrary requirements such as one upper case letter, one lowercase, one number, one special character, etc. A modern approach would mean companies waive the password character complexity requirements for users who choose a sufficiently long password.

Companies should also consider eliminating maximum password lengths, such as that used by payments provider Paypal, which at the time of writing limited to 20 characters.

Further 14 Character Password Ideas

Further 14 character password ideas include:

• Autobahn_cindarellakentucky4_
• Trevi3_mitigate_rucksack_
• Hamlet_Versailles_selfie1_

Definitely come up with your own password ideas however, and never use one that we or any other party have provided directly, such passwords can form part of dictionary attacks. It is somewhat ironic, because the above were all good passwords, but once written down, become “dictionary” passwords and suddenly very insecure. The take home message is always generate your own password, and never use a list.

Considering Password Managers/Password Vaults

This is all well and good for a single password, but how is it possible for the average user to remember 168 passwords, or 87 business/work passwords according to NordPass? The answer it seems, lies in a password manager. These password managers are based around the idea of a single, highly secure “master password” which unlocks a password vault of every password you need. Although not infallible, it allows you to store hundreds of passwords under a single password. One might ask how this is any different from simply reusing the same password for every site. Passwords are designed to be unique for every site, otherwise a breach at one company, can allow hackers to try your username and password elsewhere in credential stuffing attacks. Password managers are especially useful for businesses, using a solution such as 1Password or NordPass’s business offerings for password management which your employees can use to manage their work-related passwords. One single password, perhaps 14 characters or more, can therefore protect all your other passwords, passcodes, and passphrases.

According to Security.org, individuals who utilized password managers were almost half as likely to fall victim to identity theft vs those who didn’t use one.

Practical Considerations and Constraints in Building Strong Passwords

While longer passwords generally offer enhanced security, and are in line with UK NCSC guidance, practical considerations do arise:

1. System Limitations: Certain platforms may have character limits, for instance, PayPal limits passwords to 20 characters. Other systems may truncate longer passwords without the user’s awareness. It’s not always possible to verify the password handling practices of websites you frequent. You can mitigate risk by including traditional random characters and elements within the first 10-20 characters of a password.

2. Heuristic Attacks: Passwords like “MrFluffyDog1!!” evade brute force methods but fall prey to heuristic techniques. Using unconventional combinations reduces this vulnerability.

Is a 14 character password secure?

By utilizing meaningful words, infusing digits, special characters, and unexpected capitalization, you create a password that is both resilient and memorable. As we discussed above, a 14 character password when adhering to strong password principles is 100 times stronger than a 13 character password, which is 100 times stronger than a 12 character password, and so on. This is why passphrases are so powerful, each additional word can make the password over one million times stronger.

Let this guide inspire your own strong password strategy, your password ideas should leverage obscure words that are memorable to you, but very difficult for others to guess. Whether you’re being asked for a 12 character, 14 character, or even 16 character password, a strong passphrase will allow you to meet these requirements.