Creating a Secure Master Password

benmattison
benmattison
Community Member
edited February 2021 in Mac

I'm thinking about creating a stronger master password, using the memorable password generator with the recommended four words (https://blog.1password.com/how-long-should-my-passwords-be/). My question is: to be truly random, should I use the first one that is generated, no matter what it is? Does it weaken the security if I refresh the generator a few times until I get words that are easier to type/spell/remember? In effect I'm eliminating the rarer words from the list and making the dictionary of potential words smaller, right?

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Comments

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    p.s. Also, does it lower the security to uncheck "capitalize"? Typing an entire word in caps slows down typing a fair amount for me.

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @benmattison!

    My question is: to be truly random, should I use the first one that is generated, no matter what it is?

    My understanding is that the generated passwords are always random, so it should not matter which password among the random ones you choose. It could be the first one or the fifth one, but they are all generated with the same random chances.

    Does it weaken the security if I refresh the generator a few times until I get words that are easier to type/spell/remember?

    I don't believe so: I believe this is a subjective thing. Something that is easier to type or remember for you might be more difficult for other people, even though the password is in both cases 4 words long, for example.

    In effect I'm eliminating the rarer words from the list and making the dictionary of potential words smaller, right?

    If you are explicitly removing words from the dictionary, then yes. But in this case I don't think it weakens security, since you are just generating multiple passwords, and choosing the one that you like the most :)

    p.s. Also, does it lower the security to uncheck "capitalize"? Typing an entire word in caps slows down typing a fair amount for me.

    For this one I am not sure, so I have sent your question directly to our security team :+1:

  • benmattison
    benmattison
    Community Member

    Thanks @ag_ana!

  • ag_ana
    ag_ana
    1Password Alumni
    edited February 2021

    You are welcome @benmattison! If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out anytime.

    Have a wonderful day for now, and we will post an update here as soon as our security team has an answer :)

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