How secure is my password?
Cybersmart topic area
Password security
Target age group
Lesson duration
Lower Secondary
Middle Secondary
Lesson Overview
The lesson focus is to raise student awareness about the importance of creating secure passwords.
Lesson outcomes
The lesson will allow students to:


Identify elements of strong and weak passwords
Create secure passwords for their own online use
Australian Curriculum
This lesson plan module supports a number of general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum. These
include:
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


Critical and creative thinking
Information and communication technology capability
Personal and social capability
Numeracy
Activity 1
Page
Subject focus
Teacher
introduces the
importance of
password
security
3
Password security
Activity 2
Page
Subject focus
Students use an
external website
to trial the
strength of
passwords with
different letter,
number and
symbol
combinations
3, 7
Password strength
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 1a - Call out sheet:
How secure is my password?
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 2 – Strong Passwords
Internet access
https://howsecureismypassword.net
cybersmart@acma.gov.au
How secure is my password?
Activity 3
Page
Subject focus
Students:
3, 8
Password
generation and
security
 use an
external
website to trial
generating
secure
passwords
 read and
complete
Worksheet 3‘
and develop
their own
password and
mnemonic
2
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 3 – Strong Password Basics
Internet access
http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/
Activity 4
Page
Subject focus
Students
summarise
elements that
comprise a
secure
password
3, 6
Password security
Duration
Resources required
Worksheet 1b - Call out sheet:
How secure is my password?
External links included in lesson
https://howsecureismypassword.net/
http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/
Technology and Terminology referred to in this lesson
Passwords, password security, password strength, weak passwords, online, protection of personal
information, mnemonic
How secure is my password?
Background
The lesson focuses on how to create strong and secure passwords.
The online environment offers many ways to communicate with friends, be entertained, and even
to create content. It is not unusual for someone to have multiple online accounts for the different
activities they do online, such as using email, social networking and banking services. Often, we
are required to have passwords for each of these types of accounts. It can sometimes be difficult
to remember the passwords for all the different accounts we may have.
While most of us are connected 24/7, it is important to understand some of the risks about being
constantly connected. Disclosing passwords to others, such as friends or using easy to guess
passwords may compromise the security of our personal information. Some of these risks could
involve: someone impersonating another person online and engaging in negative online
behaviour; identity theft; online fraud and unauthorised access to personal information. It is best
to change our passwords regularly, for example every six months to reduce potential risks.
This lesson plan module assists students to identify the characteristics of strong passwords. It
allows for shared learning and for students to think creatively about their personal responsibilities
in protecting their online personal information.
Activity 1 introduces the concept of password strength. Students are asked to record their
responses on Worksheet 1a to questions about their password security habits.
Activity 2 invites students to access an external website to test password security. Sites such
as howsecureismypassword.net allow students to discover how secure a password is based on
the time taken for computer generated programs to crack the password code.
Activity 3 helps students identify elements that contribute to strong passwords. Strong
passwords usually contain the following elements:






a minimum of 8 characters
a mixture of letters (upper and lower case), numbers and symbols
are easy to remember
different passwords are used for different online accounts
are changed regularly, at least every six months
are hard to guess (they may be made up of a line from a song, or use the first letters from a song
line)
Weak passwords do not contain the above elements and are:



easy to guess (i.e. they contain personal information like a pet’s name, birthday, family or friends’
names)
shared with others
stored on the device or written down in a place that can be easily found.
This activity asks students to access an external website to test password strength. The ‘strong
password generator’ website encourages students to use mnemonic tools to remember unique
passwords.
Activity 4 requires students to summarise key elements to ensure a strong and secure
password. Student responses may be recorded on Worksheet 1b.
3
How secure is my password?
This work is based on materials that constitute copyright of the Commonwealth of Australia and is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 2.5 Australia Licence. See
http://cybersmart.acma.gov.au/About Cybersmart/Legal.aspx for more information.
4
How secure is my password?
Worksheet 1a – CyberFIT Passwords
How
secure is
my
password?
How do you know if you have a strong password?
How often do you change your password - on a regular basis or never?
5
How secure is my password?
Worksheet 1b – CyberFIT Passwords
How
secure is
my
password?
6
How secure is my password?
Worksheet 2 – Strong Passwords
This task will help you to manage your password in the CyberFIT way.
1. First, log in to the website https://howsecureismypassword.net.
Enter a made-up password into the field.
Remember not to use your real password. Can you think why?
2. Note how secure this password is and how long it would take a PC to crack your password.
3. Now add 4 digits to the password you have entered. Has this made a difference to the security
and strength of your password?
4. Now try other password combinations.
5. What can you add to ensure you have a strong password that can’t be easily cracked?
7
How secure is my password?
8
Worksheet 3 - Strong Password Basics
Task 1
1. Log in to the website http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/
2. Read the suggestions for ‘Strong Password Guidelines’. Strong passwords usually:
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have many characters i.e. more than 8, preferably 15
are upper + lower case
have numbers + symbols, such as ( ! @
are not dictionary words
are not a keyboard pattern like 123456 or qwerty
are not your login
are not your name or the name of a family member or pet
3. In the ‘Strong Password Generator’ box, select a password length.
4. Click on the ‘generate strong password’ tab.
5. Read the suggested strong password.
For example, using an 8 letter password length the following password is generated:
{1A}e!4+
Remember this new password as: { 1 ALPHA } echo ! 4 +
Task 2
Using the guidelines above, try generating your own password. For example:
i847d&nXj_(<O>)
At first glance, this may seem difficult to remember. Using a mnemonic device may help you
remember. Arrange the elements into a memorable combination, such as
I ate for seven days and nights lots of junk so (I felt full)
1. Write your example:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. Record your friend’s example:
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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