What Makes a Master Password Strong and What Happens If You Forget It?

Stop! Don’t change your password (yet). The real threat isn’t what you think. 

We’ll explain why in a few moments. 

What is the most hacked password in the world?

In 2025, the answer is simple: “123456.” This six-digit sequence has appeared in over 7 million user accounts and featured in more than 50 million data leaks worldwide. Other top offenders such as “123456789,” “password,” and “admin” are just as easy to guess and are cracked by hackers in seconds.

 

If you’re using any of the above in your own accounts, it’s time for an upgrade. 

Here's why: While the recent 16 billion password leak was shocking, it distracts from the real enemy. The true risk to password security isn’t the massive leak itself but the silent, persistent threat of infostealers. These stealthy malware programs scoop up reused passwords, fresh login credentials, personal data, and session tokens, often before you even know they’re there. 

This is where master passwords come in. Effective password management is no longer optional; it’s a key pillar of cybersecurity risk management.  

By using strong, unique master passwords and Secure by Design password management, you aren’t just protecting your logins, you’re building a digital wall around your most sensitive data. 

Below, we’re going to show you the simple tweaks that turn your master password from “guessable” to ironclad secure (almost nobody does it, but everyone should). 

Why is a strong master password important?  

Its strength is non-negotiable for your digital security 

The password management market has seen unprecedented growth across the world, due to increasing security threats. Estimated at USD $1.88 billion in 2024, it’s expected to reach USD $6.35 billion by 2029.  

The master password plays an important role in password security because it’s the key that encrypts and decrypts password vaults.  

Essentially, the master password is salted and hashed multiple times through a key derivation function to generate an encryption key. This process occurs locally on your device.   

A strong master password combined with the key derivation function produces a stronger encryption key. It’s the only password you need to encrypt and decrypt your vault. At LastPass, our Zero Knowledge approach means we have no knowledge of your master password. This means we can never decrypt your vault and access its contents.  

It’s the key protecting every login, credit card, and file in your vault 

Many people ask us, “Should I have a master password?”  

The short answer is yes.  

Your master password is mandatory to achieve the goals of the key derivation function --deriving the encryption key that secures your password vault.  

If you’re wondering, “How does a master password protect my online accounts?” here’s the straight truth: Your master password is like a lock that encrypts your vault of secrets.  

To derive your encryption key at LastPass, we run your master password and a unique salt (random value) through the PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 key derivation function with 600,000 iterations.  

The derived result is an AES-CBC-256 symmetric key. It’s the only key you need to encrypt and decrypt your vault.  

A master password can protect all your data but it’s only as strong as you make it.  

If you’re ready to discover the difference between one that’s easily hacked and one that keeps you safe, we reveal the surprising elements that make a master password truly powerful.  

How to create a strong master password 

The secret shortcut to robust master passwords   

So the question we’re often asked is: How do I create a strong master password?  

The first step is to use an industry trusted password manager. With the built-in LastPass password generator, you can create complex passwords in seconds, which means you can protect your digital life with zero extra effort. 

And that’s not all: Our autosave feature prompts you to save a newly generated password every time you create an account on a website, which means you’ll never have to worry about forgetting your passwords again.  

New password guidelines: What you must change to stay safe  

In 2024, the best practices for choosing a secure master password are to align with these directives by:  

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology):  

• Focus on length rather than complexity.  

• Passwords shouldn’t be changed periodically or arbitrarily. A change should be required only if there’s evidence of a compromise.  

CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency):  

• Minimum password length should be 16 characters.  

• Make passwords random with a passphrase or string of mixed-case letters, numbers and symbols.  

• Use a password manager for secure generation and storage of credentials.  

• Create unique passphrases for each account.  

CIS (Center for Internet Security):  

• Minimum password length should be 14 characters.  

• Avoid sequential characters.  

• Passwords must contain lower and uppercase characters, numbers 0 through 9, and non-alphanumeric characters.  

• Avoid contextual words such as usernames and their derivatives.  

What makes a strong master password? 

Character length  

So, how long should your master password be?  

A strong master password should be at least 14-16 characters long; include a mix of letters, special characters, and numbers; and meet the necessary strength requirements.  

Here’s why: Strong master passwords have higher entropy, which makes it computationally expensive for hackers to crack. This means it takes them significantly more time, processing power, and energy costs to discover your master password.   

Complexity  

You’ll want to avoid easily guessed sequential patterns like “123456,” “qwerty123,” or “123456789.”  

A good master password involves a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.   

It’s also best to avoid using leet speak to meet password strength requirements. This is the practice of replacing letters with graphically similar numbers or symbols, like l00t (“loot”) or n00b (“noob” or newbie).  

Leet speak was popularized before the Internet became widely accessible, back when tech enthusiasts mingled on bulletin board systems (BBS) -- similar to our Reddit forums today.  

The BBS community hosted a vibrant hacker culture, with users forming their own elite groups of computer techies. These users were called “leets” (slang for “elites”). Leet speak later became popular among gamers, with the most revered members called HaXXors or H4XXors.  

You’ll want to avoid leet speak, however, and here’s why: While leet speak makes passwords significantly more complex, hackers have become privy to their use and have developed specialized programs to crack them.  

Below, we reveal more passwords that leave clues for hackers (it’s not what you’d expect). 

No personal identifiers  

For a strong master password, you’ll want to refrain from the personal identifiers used in millions of logins worldwide:  

• Names of relatives, friends, and pets  

• Phone numbers, addresses, and locations you regularly visit  

• Positive descriptors like love (87M), joy (6.9M), and freedom (2M) 

• Birthdates, anniversaries, graduations, and favorite holidays  

• Favorite sports teams like Phoenix Suns (1.1M) 

• Popular curse words (152M+) 

• Basic food-related words like ice (5.9M), tea (3.2M), and pie (2.0M) 

Avoid reusing passwords  

If you generally reuse your passwords, you aren’t alone: 44% of your peers also engage in the same practice.  

However, 80% of breaches are caused by reused login credentials.  

For your security, we recommend that you avoid reusing your master password.   

Enable MFA authentication as an extra layer of security  

You may have heard that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a critical, added defense against traditional brute force attacks.   

However, hackers are now leveraging push bombing or MFA prompt bombing to bypass MFA protections. In this type of attack, your mobile device may be bombarded with 100+ prompts to reset your password.   

The attackers hope that, by overwhelming you with an avalanche of requests, you’ll simply tap “Allow” to dismiss the invasive prompts. In many cases, the prompts “lock up” your phone, forcing you to act to maintain your phone’s functionality.  

However, all hope is not lost. Passwordless FIDO2 authentication incorporates factors like biometrics, contextual behavior, location attributes, or passkeys to provide reinforced immunity against these MFA-based attacks.  

Remembering Your Master Password  

Techniques for memorization  

One great way to memorize your password is to increase your cognitive prowess. Research shows that the effort made in learning new skills can improve working memory allocation.  

And in turn, this can lead to increased neuroplasticity and greater recall capacity.   

If you’re looking for memory-enhancing activities, these five will get you up to speed (the first three are the easiest to fit into a busy schedule):  

• Reading 1-5 pages from a non-fiction book daily   

• Using spaced repetition, where you spend 10 to 20 minutes daily reciting your master password  

• Playing online memory games for 10-15 minutes daily  

• Learning a musical instrument  

• Learning a new language  

Using mnemonic devices to recall your master password  

A mnemonic device is a fancy way of saying “memorization tool.”  

These mnemonic devices can prompt greater recall. They include:  

1) Creating a playful or even outlandish sentence, using the first letter of each word, and adding special characters and numbers, like I love 35 blue cheese * and * peppermint sauce patties on 83 lamb kebabs! (Il35bc*a*pspo83lk!)  

2) Using a passphrase or sentence that appeals to your personality.  

For example, if you enjoy romance novels, use a memorable line from your favorite novel as a passphrase.  

Not a fan of romance novels? Try autobiographies, action thrillers, historical fiction, or mystery novels. You can even adapt phrases from your favorite songs, movies, or documentaries.  

A note of caution: Phrases from well-known literary or musical works are more vulnerable to brute force attacks. Random word passphrases (although harder to remember) offer greater protections. Consider adding special characters, numbers, and symbols to your quotes.  

3) Creating a Memory or Mind Palace, where you combine recall and visual abilities to recite your password or passphrase effortlessly.  

Below is a very basic example you can adapt:   

• Choose a passphrase. Here's an improvised one from the book The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy (Robert Hardman): “King Charles says trust and visibility are the main components of good leadership.”  

• Select a location such as your home.   

• Determine the locations in your home to use for your memory palace.   

TV in the living room: Picture a crown from the opening credits of the Netflix series The Crown. This symbolizes King Charles.  

Tap in the kitchen: Each time you turn on the tap, you “trust” that water will flow from it.   

Oven in the kitchen: This is where you prepare your meals. It’s “visible” every time you enter the kitchen.   

Dry erase board on the pantry door (listing domestic chores assigned to family members): This list represents what “leadership” looks like in your home.  

Tip #1: Each location helps you remember key words in your passphrase.   

Tip #2: Add symbols and numbers to make your passphrase more complex.   

But let’s face it: Who has time for “memory-boosting activities?” 

And if you did, wouldn’t you rather do something you actually care about? 

Here's the secret that experts recommend and 70% of the world isn’t yet using: You could spend hours training your memory or you could let an award-winning password manager like LastPass do the heavy lifting for you.  

With LastPass, you no longer have to remember hundreds of impossible logins. You only need to remember one: Your master password. 

What happens if you forget your LastPass master password? 

Now, this begs the question: What happens if you can’t remember your LastPass master password? 

Here’s how you can easily change or reset it: 

• Reset in the app in Android or iPhone 

• Reset using a recovery one-time password 

• Reset with a previously generated one-time password 

• Reset using SMS account recovery 

• Send a master password hint/reminder 

• Revert to previous master password 

• Reset your LastPass account if all else fails 

With LastPass, you get multiple recovery options, which means forgetting your master password doesn’t have to spell disaster. You can regain access securely and quickly, no matter what happens.

Tips for securely storing your master password  

Now that you know how to create a robust master password, here are three (3) tips for securely storing it:  

• Never write it down on paper or store it in plain text.  

• If you must store it in plaintext, use a safe or safe deposit box.  

• Consider a passwordless login option such as an authenticator app, hardware key, or biometric login  

You can easily protect and exponentially increase the strength of your master password with a hardware key like YubiKey. To use a YubiKey with LastPass, follow the passwordless USB security key procedures.  

 

Still on the fence? See what our happy customers have to say about LastPass: 

 

All my passwords are kept safe, encrypted, and 2-factor authenticated, so I don't have to worry. I have hundreds of logins, and I have a different strong password for each, and I cannot imagine what it would be like to manage that on paper. I use it many times every day, both in my personal affairs and in my professional work as a teacher (Aaron C, German teacher).

[LastPass] always follows me. I use it on my computer or my mobile phone. Never have to worry about what that password is. Super easy to use. I recommend it to all my friends (Wanda D, Sales IT consultant).

If you’re ready to enjoy effortless security and greater peace of mind, sign up for a free, no-obligation trial today. 

 

Key Takeaways

A strong password is the key that protects every login, credit card, and file in your digital vault. A password manager like LastPass is the safest, easiest way to create and store master passwords. A strong master password should be long (14-16 characters), complex, contain no personal identifiers, and unique. MFA adds an extra layer of security to your digital vault. Memory-enhancing activities can help you remember your master password, but LastPass makes data security effortless. LastPass provides many recovery options to reset or change your LastPass master password, which means you’ll never have to worry about lockouts.