Children in Scotland learn about Cyber resilience and internet safety as part of the Technologies Experiences and Outcomes. To help children and young people stay safe online we want to make sure they know what makes a strong password when using Glow.
Every Glow user should have their own password that is difficult for other people to guess but easy for them to remember.
Traditionally, the criteria for setting passwords is to use a mixture of character types (upper/ lower case, numbers and symbols) with a minimum length being required. However, this can lead to common passwords, e.g. Password1!, being used as it is often difficult to think of anything that matches the rules while being easy to remember.
Password strength #
When setting a password in Glow there is a minimum requirement and you will get a password rating as you type to reflect this. The password is rated on a number of factors such as how common the password is, how long it is and how many different types of character are used. Using a group of words or a phrase, for example, would be stronger than a common password while being easy to remember.
| Strength Rating | Password Example | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Very Weak | Pa$$word1 | Although this looks like the most complex password from the examples and has a mix of characters (allowing it to meet requirements elsewhere) it is common and easy to guess. |
| Weak | mouse | This is a single word but isn’t a common password so the strength rating increases. However, it is still a common word and easy to guess. |
| Moderate | small mouse | Using more than one word is harder to guess. |
| Strong | Small mouse!! | A mixture of words and symbols is more difficult to guess than just two words. |
| Very Strong |
small grey mouse |
Three or more words in a phrase is difficult to guess or generate so, although this example doesn't look complex and is easy to remember, it is actually the strongest of these. |
NOTE: The above table shows examples only. It is recommended that a long phrase is used and, if you will be able to remember it, a mixture of character types to make the password even more secure. As always, you should never share your password with anyone else.
Supporting Children and Young People #
Practitioners can help children remember their password by using simple techniques such as a word grid.
This may be particularly useful for younger learners where educators can create grids for their classroom with a string of words as a prompt to remember these.
An example of this suggestion is below:
| dog | green |
| plant | monkey |
| blue | small |
| cat | light |
| jumper | hill |
More information on Staying Safe Online #
If you would like to find out more about digital literacy and internet safety, guidance materials are available in the Technologies Professional Learning Community in Glow.