I've been making the case for using passphrases rather than passwords for years, especially in our press releases for our annual Worst Passwords lists.
A good passphrase consisting of several words with spaces or dashes in between (like "Garage-city-park-where" or "eat cake every eighth") is stronger than most gobbledygook passwords that have lots of random characters, and passphrases offer the very meaningful advantage of being far easier to remember for real human beings.
Passphrases have become a trendy topic because it turns out one of my favorite nerdy comics, XKCD, has made the case better than I ever did:
This comic became so popular it inspired some serious research into making long, secure passphrases that are easier to remember. The surprising result? Poetry could be the answer.
This research in turn inspired lots of media coverage like this story from NPR and this one from the Times of India.
What do you think? Are passphrases a good way to create stronger passwords? What's your favorite way to create long, complex passwords? Of course, if you use a password manager like TeamsID, you can generate long, strong, and truly random passwords easily.