Have we had a PASSWORD thread lately? #*%& I hate them.

[HBARleatherneck]

My rant, weak as it may be.

I hate passwords. Sure I want my accounts protected, but I would rather just kill every theiving, cyber, indentity criminal(insert other dirtbags here) and end the need. (if that was possible)
I have like 809 zillion passwords. I cant remember half of them, so I have to constantly write them down, which is probably not good. It used to be you could use you favorite cats name or your favorite car, but now it has to be 40 digits, 3 capital letters, no words, 4 symbols, etc, etc, etc.

My stupid DS Login for the military is the worst. You have to come up with a new password, every other day or so. (at least it seems that way). The password has to be changed frequently.

Passwords for shopping sites, passwords for internet forums, passwords for banks, for travel, for paying bills, for the doctor, for prescriptions, and on and on. it gets old.

[hurley842002]

I never hated passwords so much, until I started working for the Fed Gov.

[CS1983]

Have you thought about using a master database program for such things? That way you only really have to remember one master password and then you just save username, pw, url, and sec question/answer in one repository. Something like KeePass... or any other the other ones out there. Could also just save an excel sheet which you pw protect.

Another method is to simply save them on your phone in contacts like:

Jimmy Smith (Army Buddy)

password@gmail.com

As long as you are only saving the password and not necessarily anything about that pw except an occult reference you understand, it isn't awful.

[Zundfolge]

I used to hate passwords too ... now I use LastPass and have moved on to other things to bitch about.

I have one complicated password on a piece of paper in my wallet (because I'm not going to memorize a 12 random character PW) and that's it. Then I generate 12-24 random character passwords for every site I use (using a different one for each site) and I don't have to remember anything and every one of them is pretty strong.

[Zundfolge]

Im not geeky enought to know about all the work arounds you guys know about. I will look into them.

If you can use this site you can use LastPass. Its designed for non geeks.

[CS1983]

If the program were to send info out, that would be one thing.

However, it doesn't. And, it's encrypted by your own Master password.

Now, if someone cracks your 256-bit pw while on your system and figures out it's SNWOL@N2n39AS!@#nbdlsn92ncVBGF$%@, you have larger problems.

suggestion: phrase usage. better suggestion: unlikely phrase usage

example: USMC5ucksI<3Commun15m

No one in their right mind would figure that out by social engineering, and I can pretty much guarantee it's not on a rainbow table.

[Irving]

I have friends that don't know how to change the password for their wifi, so they just write the random characters down on a piece of paper and hand it to you when you come over. I think it's pretty funny.

I get annoyed at changing passwords for different systems at different times. The password to get into my tablet, and the password to get into the system on the tablet are always different because they require changes at different times.

[Zundfolge]

but how do you trust it???

I trust it better than using pet names or other words as passwords. I don't trust anything on the internet completely (for example I don't use ATMs nor online banking).

Where you run into problems with passwords is using the same password on multiple sites. People generally don't "crack" people's individual passwords, they hack a site where people have login accounts and get the list of usernames with their passwords and then use that list to try to log into multiple other sites and when they get a hit they start taking over your accounts. Keeping different passwords for every site you log into is the cornerstone of online security (making the passwords hard to guess just adds another layer of security).

[Zundfolge]

suggestion: phrase usage. better suggestion: unlikely phrase usage

example: USMC5ucksI<3Commun15m

Time for the requsite posting of this cartoon:

I get annoyed at changing passwords for different systems at different times.

Sites that force you to change your passwords regularly actually undermine their own security because they encourage people to use simple and easier to guess passwords (like pet names or "password123") I'm looking at you DOD.

[brutal]