<p>It looks like there is some empirical evidence that passphrases are easier to remember than either random passwords (not surprising) or user-selected short passwords after standard advice to use mix of upper and lower and avoid words.</p>

<p><a href="http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/jeff.yan/#exp" rel="nofollow">http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/jeff.yan/#exp</a></p>

<p>Thanks Jeff for the pointer in a comment (same Jeff?).</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>J. Yan, A. Blackwell, R. Anderson and A. Grant. The memorability and
  security of passwords -- some empirical results. University of
  Cambridge, Computer Laboratory Technical Report No. 500, 2000. (see
  also Hungarian translation). <a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-500.pdf" rel="nofollow">PDF</a></p>
  
  <p>J. Yan, A. Blackwell, R. Anderson and A. Grant. Password Memorability
  and Security: Empirical Results. IEEE Security &amp; Privacy, Vol. 2 No.
  5, 2004. <a href="http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/jeff.yan/jyan_ieee_pwd.pdf" rel="nofollow">PDF</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>the above is reprinted as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>J. Yan, A. Blackwell, R. Anderson and A. Grant. The Memorability and
  Security of Passwords. Refereed book chapter in Security and
  Usability: Designing Secure Systems that People Can Use (ed. by Lorrie
  Cranor and Simson Garfinkel), OReilly &amp; Associates, USA, 2005.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-16T00:24:24.007Z
hah, definitely not the same Jeff! interesting studies; i've edited to include the citations directly
Jeff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-15T23:35:56.720Z
2012-11-16T00:23:40.453Z
2012-11-16T00:23:40.453Z
Kevin Peterson
<p>There are lots of ad-hoc rules that people are happy to propose about passwords, such as:</p>

<ul>
<li>Pick a phrase you can remember easily, and then use the initial letters.</li>
<li>A random short sequence of letters, numbers and symbols.</li>
<li>A sequence of random common words (like XKCD's "battery correct horse staple").</li>
</ul>

<p>There is also a pile of computer security research on what passwords are hard to crack.</p>

<p>It seems like a pretty simple empirical question to say what is the best password scheme for any given desired strength.</p>

<p><strong>Can anyone point me to any research about the ease of memorizing passwords generated according to various rules?</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-08T11:43:15.057Z
One study is Yan, J., Blackwell, A., Anderson, R. & Grant, A. (2004). Password memorability and security: Empirical results. Security & Privacy, IEEE, 2, 25-31. [PDF](https://www-test.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-500.pdf)
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-11T08:42:49.267Z
Consider yourself pointed http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=+Password+memorability
Jeff
<cognitive-psychology><memory><hci>
Psychological research on memorability of passwords?
Kevin Peterson
# Psychological research on memorability of passwords?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-09-20)

There are lots of ad-hoc rules that people are happy to propose about passwords, such as:

* Pick a phrase you can remember easily, and then use the initial letters.
* A random short sequence of letters, numbers and symbols.
* A sequence of random common words (like XKCD's "battery correct horse staple").

There is also a pile of computer security research on what passwords are hard to crack.

It seems like a pretty simple empirical question to say what is the best password scheme for any given desired strength.

**Can anyone point me to any research about the ease of memorizing passwords generated according to various rules?**

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, memory, hci

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: One study is Yan, J., Blackwell, A., Anderson, R. & Grant, A. (2004). Password memorability and security: Empirical results. Security & Privacy, IEEE, 2, 25-31. [PDF](https://www-test.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-500.pdf)  
> **username_2**: Consider yourself pointed http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=+Password+memorability  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2012-11-15. Score: 3

It looks like there is some empirical evidence that passphrases are easier to remember than either random passwords (not surprising) or user-selected short passwords after standard advice to use mix of upper and lower and avoid words.

<http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/jeff.yan/#exp>

Thanks username_2 for the pointer in a comment (same username_2?).

> J. Yan, A. Blackwell, R. Anderson and A. Grant. The memorability and
> security of passwords -- some empirical results. University of
> Cambridge, Computer Laboratory Technical Report No. 500, 2000. (see
> also Hungarian translation). [PDF](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-500.pdf)
>
> J. Yan, A. Blackwell, R. Anderson and A. Grant. Password Memorability
> and Security: Empirical Results. IEEE Security & Privacy, Vol. 2 No.
> 5, 2004. [PDF](http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/jeff.yan/jyan_ieee_pwd.pdf)

the above is reprinted as:

> J. Yan, A. Blackwell, R. Anderson and A. Grant. The Memorability and
> Security of Passwords. Refereed book chapter in Security and
> Usability: Designing Secure Systems that People Can Use (ed. by Lorrie
> Cranor and Simson Garfinkel), OReilly & Associates, USA, 2005.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: hah, definitely not the same username_2! interesting studies; i've edited to include the citations directly  

---

