...
Seriously? Yeah, I bet most of those are probably underlings, secretary to the secretary for the guy who parks cars for the WHO that seldom use their email accounts
Actually, I doubt it. The "higher ups" in most organizations are usually worse than anyone because they see cyber security as "someone else's problem" and don't feel the need to waste perfectly good brain-power for the 5 minutes every couple months it takes to develop a strong password.
"I'm an important person the World Health Organization. I don't have time to fool with passwords!"
IaiptWH0.Idhttfwp!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ First letter from each word of the above sentence. Includes punctuation. "O" changed to a "0" (zero) to give you a numeric character
There. That's how simple it is to develop a secure password. 18 characters with complexity. Eliminate the double-t if your password policy prohibits it and it's still 17 characters. (I've been known to "overshoot" my character allotment - but then again, I'm a "talker")
With the currently available technology, it would take longer than 90 days (a common password expire policy) to crack the hash. (At least for 99% of people trying to do this.)
After 90 days that same person might use this one: "Well, that was a close one. Everyone on earth almost died. Good thing we discovered a vaccine!" (Wtwac0.Eoead.Gtwdav!)
Applying some dark humor but you get the idea. DON'T just add a number to the end. (We all used to do it. Don't feel too bad about Yamaha04 - but for the love of Pete
change it).
Keep the phrase topical and personal so it's easy to remember. The first few times you use it, you may "say" the phrase in different ways, so make sure you have a way to clearly remember it.
I further suggest keeping it positive for your own mental-health. You don't need to keep reminding yourself of the dummy that hit your boat or the accident your grandmother was in.
Cybersecurity Tip-O-The-Day in these troubled times.
Edit: Oh, and don't reuse the same password anywhere. You'll only be secure as the least secure account you sign in to. Get a password manager like Keepass2 and learn to love it.
