World Password Day: A Free Game to Teach Password Security

One of my favorite television shows features Jimmy Fallon and Keke Palmer— the Emmy-award-winning show Password. Every day, many of us play our own “Guess That Password” password game as we attempt to log in to one of our many online accounts. This can be hard since, on average, we need to remember 80+ passwords. On World Password Day, let’s make this game a little easier for ourselves.

Did You Know?

World Password Day organizers seek to promote better password habits. Passwords are critical gatekeepers to our digital identities (source). Doesn’t it make sense to safeguard them?

Passwords in Schools

Business employees have to remember anywhere from 80 to 191 passwords to do their job. Let’s take a look at a relevant audience for K-12 education:

• The average teacher has over 100 passwords to keep track of. Some have as many as 200 login credentials.
• School administrators have stronger password and authentication requirements than others because they have more access to confidential student data.

While students don’t have to keep track of quite as many passwords, they do have a few to juggle. Why not teach them the right way to safeguard them early?

• 3rd through 5th grade students have, on average, two passwords at school.
• 6th through 8th graders have two passwords at school and four passwords at home on average.
• The average number of unique passwords is 4.5.

What is the impact on students and staff? In schools, staff and students often depend on single-sign-on (SSO) solutions. Those solutions can include ClassLink, which assists over 21 million students and staff. Other options include Clever, Google, and Microsoft.

Did You Know?

You can sign up for the Cybersecurity for Educators (Data Guardian I) online, self-paced course to learn more about safeguarding passwords, data, and digital tools.

Boost Password Security and Awareness

Looking for a quick way to engage students in remembering passwords as a lifelong skill? Why not use a game? Here are three games you can try:

• Password Duel for grades 3-5 via Science Buddies
• The Password Game for grade 8-12 students via Next Gen Personal Finance
• Password Power-Up via Common Sense

TCEA’s Password Guardian Game

Let’s try another simple game, Password Guardian. The game teaches students about creating strong, secure passwords and using password managers. These concepts align with the Technology Applications TEKS goal of promoting cybersecurity awareness and safe online behaviors. The game incorporates principles of digital citizenship, which is a key focus of the Technology Applications TEKS. Students learn responsible practices like not sharing passwords, using unique passwords for each account, and regularly updating passwords

The goal of this game is for students to learn the benefits of using a password manager. It’s also to learn how to create passwords that are:

• strong
• memorable
• complex

Students at all levels will understand how to craft passwords and protect themselves, their privacy, and their data.

Game Materials

• Password Guardian game board printout for each team (Canva Version or PPTx, PDF, and Google Slides Version)
• Game cards with different password creation challenges (include in the game links above)
• Dice
• Tokens for each team
• Password manager information sheet

Setting Up the Game

• Divide the class into teams of 3-4 students.
• Assign jobs that include time-keeper, game card reader, die tosser, and scorekeeper. Job roles switch every two moves.
• Give each team a game board, a token, a set of challenge cards, and a dice
• Place the password manager information sheet in the center of each group

How to Play

1. Teams take turns rolling the dice. They then move their token the corresponding number of spaces on the game board.
2. When a team lands on a space, they draw a challenge card and read the password creation challenge aloud. For example, “Create a password with at least 12 characters, one capital letter, and one symbol.” Discuss why that would be better than your dog’s name.
3. The team works together to complete the challenge within a two-minute time limit.
4. If the team completes the challenge, they earn points based on the difficulty. For example, easy (1 point), hard (2 points), hardest (3 points).
5. If a team lands on a “Password Manager Bonus” space, they consult the info sheet. They share one benefit of using a password manager like Bitwarden or KeePass to earn two bonus points.
6. The first team to reach the Finish space wins. In case of a tie, the team with the most points is the winner.

The Password Guardian game is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike license. Let’s work together to help students understand the importance of password security to online safety, and remember to have fun!