SafeKey How fast a common password falls
Attackers don’t type guesses by hand. They run dictionaries. A birthday, a pet name, or 123456 is usually gone in under a second. Adding symbols and extra length expands the search space so that “try every combo” stops being cheap.
| Example | Typical outcome |
|---|---|
| 123456 / password | Under 1 second |
| Name + year + ! | Minutes to hours |
| 20 random chars with symbols | Not practical to brute-force online |
How do I know if my password is strong?
Check four things: length (16+), randomness (no words you would say out loud), uniqueness (one password per site), and character mix (letters + numbers + symbols when the site allows it). This page’s meter turns bright green when symbols stay on and length is high. Green is a confirmation, not magic: still store the result in a password manager.
Examples of strong passwords
Weak: Verano2026! — a word, a year, one symbol. Strong: a string you did not invent, such as the one in the box above. Do not reuse examples from articles. Generate, copy, save, move on.
Why symbols matter
Symbols enlarge the alphabet. Combined with 16–24 characters they beat “clever” substitutions like a→@. If a site rejects some symbols, keep the length and generate again with a smaller set — don’t fall back to your name.
Common questions
How do I know if my password is strong?
Long, random, unique, mixed character sets. If it contains your name, a date, or 123456, treat it as already cracked.
What are examples of strong passwords?
Random generator output with symbols — never a famous quote or a word plus a year. Copy from this tool into a manager; don’t memorize a weak pattern.
Does SafeKey store the password?
No. Generation uses crypto.getRandomValues in your browser. Nothing is posted to a SafeKey server.