How timely we catch the post from the New York Times tech blog about computer passwords and the lack of security on most people's computers. One of our own contributors found themselves on the other end of the spectrum this morning: totally locked out from making changes because they forgot their admin password. But most people have extremely simple passwords...too simple and too easy to guess. Are you secure enough?
The New York Times tech blog piece mentions the most popular password is the obvious "123456". If this is currently your own password, this might be a good incentive to change out your password to something new and more secure. Just not "password", "monkey", "lovely", "iloveyou" or any of the other popular passwords shown on the left.
Our own password is a 17 character string of letters and numbers (we've been tempted to boost it up to 24), giving us a fair amount of security. But we still regularly change it out or remix it for security purposes. What we have is 4-5 passwords that we use in combination with one another to string together larger, more complex passwords. So an easy to remember 6 character password can be bolstered by the addition of another 12 character password, then switched out later by another 10 character password. The challenge is building a short list of passwords to use and remember. Everyone has their own way of remembering passwords (alongside software solutions such as 1Password), but we still like managing it ourselves this way. How about yourselves...any tricks or solutions you've got for keeping your password(s) safe?
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Comments (6)
I try to match my passwords security level to the sensitivity of the data.
Do I care if someone logs into my...well Unpluggd account? Sorry I really like the site but I'm not going to lose anything if they do so it is on my cheap and easy password list. My bank account on the other hand? It is information with a higher sensitivity and I treat it as such.
I am happy to say that no password I have ever used is on that list.
I have a alphanumeric non-dictionary password that I use as my default for low-security things. My boyfriend and mom both know it, which is good because then they can get into these things if I'm not there for some reason.
For my medium-level security things (email, Facebook) I took the first letter of each word in a phrase I could remember and threw a bunch of numbers in between the letters. A pain to type on my iPhone, but it's something I can easily remember while it's still complex.
Anything tied to a credit card or bank account gets that same password with a variety of punctuation marks and symbols in it. Again, easy for me to remember, but nearly impossible to guess.
Do you think it's a bad thing that I use the same password for multiple services? I had a conversation with someone the other day who says he incorporates the name of the app with his password so that each of his passwords is unique.
I like your idea of combining passwords, Gregory!
I was surprised to see my name is on that list, but I've never used it as my password. I have a formula of passwords that I use that I can add and subtract from to create the right length password.
Like others, I have varying passwords depending on the sensitivity of the data. I have them memorized, but I also make use of the PortableApps.com version of the "KeePass" software so I can keep track of sys admin passwords for servers at work and for other accounts that are work related.
"KeePass Portable" (or maybe it's "Portable KeePass") is nice because I can run the app and have access to my passwords as long as I have my USB memory stick with me. I usually do because it also has my "Thunderbird Portable" install on it.
We had to change our password every 30 days so I started using the names of the employees (50 to 75) in my department. I always had a list of names on my desk (for reports and scheduling purposes) and I would pencil in a small dot next to the current employee's name I was using for a password. Yep, the password was in front of them and they never knew it...haha.
From my husband i developed the three part password system. The first two parts don't change, a 3 to 6 letter word, then a two digit number, and then 3 to 6 letter easy site password. For example, my password to Desert Schools ePal (web banking) when i had an account was xxxxxxepal Easy to remember, and all of the info is available, but the likelihood of someone putting it together is fairly slim. Besides, if you're that determined, likely anything i could use would get cracked any how.