How you can Create a Safe Username

Relating to defending your self on-line, having a safe password has been the default advice. Nevertheless, it’s possible you’ll be stunned to know that having a safe username is simply as vital as utilizing a robust password.

Serving as your id on-line, usernames are prized property for hackers to amass. Even when they’re not as coveted as your passwords, they can be utilized to pay money for your information on-line.

On this article, we focus on easy methods to create a safe username, why it’s important to take action, and a few further ideas and tips.

How do I create a safe username?

1. Keep away from together with your full title, tackle, or different private info

Most accounts, besides work accounts maybe, gained’t require you to make use of your full title — and for good cause. Having your title in your username will make it a lot simpler for hackers to determine you and subsequently discover your different accounts.

Equally, any personally identifiable info additionally shouldn’t be in your username, as you’re inadvertently giving hackers extra information to work with to hack your account.

Right here’s a listing of knowledge you need to positively keep away from together with in your username:

• Date of delivery.
• Tackle.
• E-mail tackle.
• Cellphone quantity/s.
• ID numbers or PINs.
• Social safety quantity.
• Your hometown.

Since usernames are public data, hackers have the identical entry to them as you do. If you happen to embrace one thing like your property tackle in your username, a savvy hacker can use it to their benefit and presumably goal you.

Hackers can even use any private data you could have in your username to reply safety questions. These questions are safeguards positioned in most on-line companies that assist authenticate your id and will let you retrieve or reset your password when wanted.

2. Don’t reuse usernames for different accounts

It’s price emphasizing that you need to keep away from reusing usernames when creating a brand new account. Utilizing a brand new, distinctive username drastically reduces the probability of your accounts being hacked.

Whereas this may be inconvenient, the extra layer of safety it supplies your accounts may be very a lot price it.

As well as, I additionally discourage merely revising previous usernames or barely modifying them. Why so? Let’s take for instance, having the username “techrepublic1.”

If we modify it to one thing like “techrepublic2,” this nonetheless leaves you at nice threat of being compromised since hackers can readily sift by way of completely different variations of your username once they attempt to purchase your credentials.

Steering away from repeating used login particulars is similar apply really useful when creating a brand new password. If you happen to’re inquisitive about easy methods to have a robust password, take a look at our How you can Create a Safe Password information.

3. Make it memorable for you however laborious to guess for everybody else

Now that we’ve gone by way of some issues to not do, let’s see how we will truly create a novel username from scratch. Since usernames may be something beneath the solar, one solution to do it’s to make use of a mixture of phrases that imply one thing to you and solely you.

I strongly counsel mixing phrases or phrases that imply one thing to you however may be laborious for anybody else to guess. Listed here are some concepts to consider when creating your distinctive username:

• Your hobbies or pursuits.
• Your traits or character.
• Your favourite objects.
• Previous nicknames or pet names.
• Favourite motion pictures, video games, or TV exhibits.

Let’s say your favourite animal is a dolphin, and also you’re fairly keen on pizza. For you, possibly “pizzadolphin37” as a username is an efficient choose.

It’s additionally inspired so as to add in random characters, like symbols or numbers, at your discretion. Simply ensure you’re capable of bear in mind it properly.

4. Guarantee your username and password are unrelated

One other factor to recollect is to make sure your username and password are two utterly unrelated phrases. Whereas this will likely appear apparent, having a username-password combo that connects in some way is a recipe for catastrophe.

Under is an instance of login credentials that relate to one another:

• Username: RosesAreRed.
• Password: VioletsAreBlue.

Even when having associated login particulars helps bear in mind them, it’s vital to acknowledge that each hackers and their instruments have developed. Such a mixture wouldn’t be troublesome to crack for hackers and menace actors, a lot much less skilled ones at that.

5. Use a random username generator

Lastly, you too can use on-line username mills that may robotically create a safe and distinctive username for you. Many of those username mills allow you to set particular parameters on your username, akin to what number of characters it has, what kind of phrases are used if it’s random textual content or an precise phrase, and the like.

Under are some on-line username mills I’ve seen that present a good quantity of choices and settings you may tweak to get your required username:

A handful of password managers even have username mills you should utilize, akin to 1Password and Bitwarden. I’ll be itemizing these password managers, and extra particulars about them are under to raised perceive which of them to go for.

6. Have a safe solution to retailer them, akin to by way of a password supervisor

As we’ve touched on them, password managers may be worthwhile investments in storing and securing distinctive usernames. Other than storing passwords, password managers are additionally designed to robotically retailer all of the usernames you utilize for every account. This implies you gained’t have to consider remembering all of your usernames, because the password supervisor does for you.

Most trendy password managers additionally embrace autofill capabilities, which removes the trouble of remembering the precise username and password for every account. With autofill, password managers will robotically populate the login kind fields for you.

SEE: Threat Administration Coverage (TechRepublic Premium)

Why is it vital to create a safe username?

They’re usually included in information leaks and breaches

In an enormous information breach, a hacker goals to get as a lot info on you as attainable. This implies they not solely goal passwords but additionally eye your cellphone quantity, tackle, e-mail, and naturally, your username.

Since usernames and passwords go hand-in-hand, a hacker having your username technically means they’ve 50% of your login credentials. This makes it considerably simpler for cybercriminals to make use of methods like brute pressure assaults or credential stuffing, i.e., a high-powered type of trial and error, to attempt to steal your account.

Usernames are public info

It’s important to keep in mind that most usernames can be found to the general public as a result of they act as identifiers. Take into consideration your enterprise’ LinkedIn account, your Amazon account, and even your private username for gaming. All of those may be seen by each you, different folks, and hackers alike. On this regard, they don’t have the identical kind of safety as passwords concerning non-public info.

With this, I strongly suggest creating distinctive usernames for every account you could have. Why? Let’s say you usually use one username for a lot of of your accounts — together with your e-mail tackle. Right here, hackers can use your public username to trace down all of your different accounts. This leaves you extremely inclined to social engineering ways, scams, or phishing makes an attempt.

They can assist construct your anonymity on-line

Whereas usernames are public, they don’t essentially have to incorporate your full title. On this regard, having a safe username may be a good way so that you can strengthen your on-line privateness. If you happen to do it proper, nobody technically is aware of which username is tied to your account. This lets you browse the web with out worrying about others wanting into what you’re doing on-line.

One other method usernames can assist strengthen privateness is through the use of them to separate your work and private life on-line. Like the instance above, you should utilize a very completely different username on your private accounts. This lets you hold your private feed non-public and keep your enterprise account on the similar time.

Password managers with username mills

All three password managers under provide a username generator both inside the app or by way of their official web site, so that you’ll haven’t any bother creating a novel username with any of them.

Bitwarden

If you happen to’re on the lookout for a completely free password supervisor, Bitwarden is likely one of the finest. Its free plan supplies limitless password storage, which is an enormous plus contemplating different free password managers impose a cap on what number of passwords may be saved. Bitwarden Free additionally allows entry to a limiteless variety of gadgets, letting you entry your encrypted vault from any system. Privateness fans additionally admire Bitwarden for being open-source and having a robust portfolio of third-party audits.

To study extra, learn our full Bitwarden evaluate.

1Password

For customers that prioritize having a streamlined consumer expertise, I like to recommend 1Password. Its desktop software and browser extension each have polished designs, making it straightforward to handle quite a few passwords and accounts. On the safety aspect, 1Password employs a zero-knowledge method, making certain all of your delicate credentials are solely accessible to you alone. 1Password accounts are additionally end-to-end encrypted and use AES-256 encryption, the gold commonplace encryption algorithm within the business right this moment.

To study extra, learn our full 1Password evaluate.

NordPass

If you happen to’re a fan of NordVPN and on the lookout for a companion password supervisor, NordPass ought to be in your radar. As Nord Safety’s tackle password administration, NordPass takes quite a lot of cues from their widespread VPN in offering a robust stability between having a clear UI with out sacrificing general safety. It makes use of the “future-proof” XChaCha20 encryption algorithm; presents a refined and modern-looking desktop app; and supplies an inexpensive quantity of multifactor authentication strategies as properly.

To study extra, learn our full NordPass evaluate.

This text was initially revealed in January 2025 and was up to date by the creator in July 2025.