Password Hygiene Model

Password hygiene follows three principles: uniqueness (every account gets a different password so one breach doesn't cascade), complexity (resisting brute-force attacks), and management (human memory replaced by password manager). A 12-character random password takes ~200 years to crack; a common 8-character password falls in hours. Yet 65% reuse passwords across sites, meaning one breach compromises everything. The solution: password manager generating unique 16+ character passwords for every account, protected by a strong passphrase (4+ random words), with 2FA on the manager itself.

When to use it

When you reuse passwords across multiple accounts. When you've never set up a password manager. When conducting a security audit for yourself or your organization. When a service you use reports a data breach.

How it can help

Adopting a password manager is a 2-hour investment permanently solving authentication security. Choose a manager, create a memorable master passphrase (4 random words), install browser extensions and mobile apps, then replace passwords with generated 16+ character random strings as you visit each site. For entrepreneurs, password hygiene is a business risk issue—mandating password managers is one of the highest-ROI security investments for any company.