There's something to be said for going old-school. While you think you're being secure by recording all your login information in a password-protected excel file labeled "wordpass," you're only fooling yourself. If somebody really wanted to get in there, they probably could. That's why, despite the prevalence of secure password-stashing apps, we think it's a good idea to take things down on paper—using this clever bookshelf trick to hide your passwords, of course.
It's true! You can hide your most important passwords in plain sight on your bookshelf. The trick is writing them down in an obscure spot that only you would think to look.
One Lifehacker reader suggests that using a little bit of word association, you can tap into your unique psyche and find the perfect hiding spots for your login info—written down in book margins where only you would think to look.
Lifehacker suggests you should write all your passwords down in your dictionary next to words that relate to the sites requiring hard-to-remember passwords, but we think you could do a lot better (and get more secure) by using your whole bookshelf.
Think about the site you're recording the password for, and write down the very next word that comes to your mind. If you're stashing the password for your online banking account, that might lead you to Riverbank and the key word, "River," so grab for a copy of "A River Runs Through It."
Think of your favorite number and write your password down on that page so you'll know where to look for it again. You could even change your password to reflect the page number it's hidden on.
Do you have any memory tricks for hiding your written-down passwords? Tell us in the comments!
(Images: Flickr member niznoz licensed for use under Creative Commons, Flickr member dorywithserifs licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Unplggd - making identity theft easier for burglars. Rob your house and sign into your accounts all in one trip.
@ lal - All those English lit majors without jobs forced to burglar houses for a living. Generally speaking my guess is those books will be untouched. :)
So I need to buy a bunch of books for that match my passwords and/or accounts. That is easy.
i think there are better ways to secure your passwords -- this is kinda overkill and well, pretentious.
and another thing, how am i suppose to remember which obscure book holds which obscure password. If your bank is chase and one day you may think of a river bank but a week from now you might think the book Chase, Or the author Chase. Just use a good keychain program. It would be better think of shortcut to use. All vowels equal numbers. AEIOU=43106 The six is the closest thing to a U I could think of. The Chasebank password would be Ch4s3b4nk. Numbers, Letters, and no words is secure. Apartment therapy login would be 4p4rtm3nt. I use a different algorithm so good luck seeing if I use those.
Not easy or actually enjoyable. Ill stick to the trusty "brain" method where Ive been holding numeric phone numbers, passwords, random data, etc for years lol
I keep all mine in an address book
Since switching to pass phrases several years ago, I tend to not need to write down passwords for most things. Otherwise it is a single piece of paper in the same lockbox with our social security cards, birth certificates, and insurance paperwork etc.
By a pass phrase I am talking a longer sentence or phrase that is easy to remember and type because you type it just like a sentence with spaces and punctuation. If you need to make it more difficult you can always work out a capitilization of certain letters, replacing all letter os with zeros etc. For example if I have a particular song running through my head I will use an entire line from that song as my pass phrase for a while.
I'm with teawithsteph! Pass phrases are the best... I always remember the lyrics to my favorite songs.
I ue 1Password (Mac, Windows, iOS, Android) or LastPass (free, multi-platform compatible). A lot better than accidentally donating a book with your password in it!
Some software will create "pronounceable" passwords, by the way.
I use a combination of high tech and low tech approaches to remembering my passwords. For sites where password recovery is as easy as an email and the need for security isn't that high (such as with this site), I simply email myself a reminder as to my username, email account that I signed up with, and maybe a password hint. I then keep that email in a special folder to make it easier to find again. For more sensitive needs, I use an actual, physical lockbox that my husband could access should something happen to me.
Re: 1Password - I kind of soured on 1Password after purchasing it a few years ago for $30 and having to pay another $10 to have it on my iPhone. Then they basically wanted me to pay for the desktop version again after a major upgrade (that didn't feel like much of an upgrade to me). Overpriced and under good, as far as I can tell.
@ Jason - Ha! Do you know me? I have 2 English degrees!
I pick the first letter from several words that are easy to remember (family names, a sentence, planets, etc.), a series of numbers (zip, DL #, house #, etc.) and the first three letters of the web site. Keeps it tough for anyone but me.
just use 123password for everything
"1-2-3-4-5? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard of in my life! That's the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage!"