Easier Way to Generate and Remember Passwords

[InTheLight]

The new direction is one that champions less complexity in favor of length.

Passwords that once looked like this: W@5hPo5t!, can now be this: mycatlikesreadinggarfieldinthewashingtonpost.

Requiring longer passwords, known as passphrases, usually 16 to 64 characters long, is increasingly seen as a potential escape route from our painful push toward logins that only a cryptographer could love.

A series of studies from Carnegie Mellon University confirmed that passphrases are just as good at online security because hacking programs are thrown off by length nearly as easily as randomness. To a computer, poetry or simple sentences can be just as hard to crack. Even better: People are less likely to forget them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-technology:homepage/card
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About 3 months ago I started using the password manager program/app "LastPass" which requires you to remember one master password and then LastPass generates a random password for each site that you need a password. It's kind of a cool way to do passwords, you only need to remember one password and you don't even know the passwords form the various other sites.

For my master password I use the first few words from a favorite Bible Verse along with the chapter and verse.

Examples:
InTheBeginning11
BeholdIStand320
JesusWept1135

I suppose using the method described in the article one could quote a portion of a verse or even the whole verse.

 

[Deacon]

Unfortunately I have to follow the rules set by the IT department.


10 characters
2 have to be numbers
2 have to be upper case
No repeats of previous phrases for 8 password changes

Signing in at work is a chore.

1. Open computer (first letter and last name) and a password
2. Clock in at work (full first and last name [no space] and password [changes ever 6 weeks]
3. Open Program Neighborhood (nickname and last name [no space] and password [changes every 3 months]
4. Open Electronic Medical Records (EMR) (first letter of first name and last name [no space], password and location code)
5. Open Document Management System (first letter of first name and last name [no space], password and location code)​

Computer shuts the programs down after 10 minutes - and stress tests take about 15 to 20 minutes.

I probably spend 15 minutes or more a day just signing in.

But to make things easier to remember I have a paper near the computer with all my current passwords.


Rob

 

[Smyth]

I probably spend 15 minutes or more a day just signing in.

The advice in the OP is moot, given common password requirements. And, is it really any better to have a super-long password that's easy to remember but takes an annoyingly long time to type and offers ample opportunity to mistype.

If I wanted to get onto your account, could I call your IT dept. and tell them "I forget my password" and have them reset it to, say, part of your social security number which I could probably get fairly easily on-line somewhere?

Could I maybe leave a fake login screen on an unoccupied PC and then you come to log in, I'll get your password?

Is your password really so secure? Test it with this link: https://howsecureismypassword.net/

 

[Squire Robertsson]

I like to use obsolete addresses and phone numbers. With phone numbers, I'm old enough to have had alpha based exchanges (ZEnith, TUxedo, UPdike, ect).

 

[annsni]

A friend of mine is the wife of an Army chaplain and it seems they have to use passwords for certain websites that they need to go to as military families and the passwords have to change every three months and meet all sorts of criteria and she finally found the ideal passwords. It is kind of similar to ITL but a bit different.

Let's use John 3:16 as a password. We don't use words (they discourage using words) so we will just use the first letter of the words along with the number and character. So now we have J3:16. But we are going to add the Bible verse words as well which leads us to J3:16FGsltw. We use capital letters if the word is capitalized and lower case if it is lower case. Just to add on yet another bit of security AND to make it unique per site, we will add in the website initial too. So for Amazon, we now have J3:16FGsltwA There are times she needs a longer password so she will just use the whole verse J3:16FGsltwthghostwbihwnpbhelA Yeah - I'd never go that long - the J3:16FGsltwA is usually plenty. So we have scripture memory and passwords all at once! LOL

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Using the run together principle:

@1600PennsylvaniaAvenue​

or whatever your address was when you were 5 years old.

I like to use obsolete addresses and phone numbers. With phone numbers, I'm old enough to have had alpha based exchanges (ZEnith, TUxedo, UPdike, ect).

 

[ChrisTheSaved]

I can't wait till we have USB thumb print passwords on everything. Use your thumb print when you first set up an account and that's how you access it. Hard to steal a thumb print. I guess that would take the word "hacking" to a whole new level.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Check the password below at How Secure. It is rated at 252 sextillion years.

Using the run together principle:

@1600PennsylvaniaAvenue​

or whatever your address was when you were 5 years old.

 

[annsni]

Check the password below at How Secure. It is rated at 252 sextillion years.

I plugged in 123abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz in that site and it told me that this password would take 234 nonillion years to break. I think it's kind of easy! I'm not sure of their algorithm here.

 

[jpope]

I use a program called KeepassX because it has versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, all of which I use. It creates its own encrypted "database" which I keep on Dropbox. Dropbox provides the database across all of my platforms. It takes some time getting used to the process, but once you have it down, it is pretty easy.

 

[FootballRef]

Unfortunately I have to follow the rules set by the IT department.


10 characters
2 have to be numbers
2 have to be upper case
No repeats of previous phrases for 8 password changes

Signing in at work is a chore.

1. Open computer (first letter and last name) and a password
2. Clock in at work (full first and last name [no space] and password [changes ever 6 weeks]
3. Open Program Neighborhood (nickname and last name [no space] and password [changes every 3 months]
4. Open Electronic Medical Records (EMR) (first letter of first name and last name [no space], password and location code)
5. Open Document Management System (first letter of first name and last name [no space], password and location code)​

Computer shuts the programs down after 10 minutes - and stress tests take about 15 to 20 minutes.

I probably spend 15 minutes or more a day just signing in.

But to make things easier to remember I have a paper near the computer with all my current passwords.


Rob

I have to keep a file on my computer that has my passwords for work. Some are required to be changed every so often and others I've never had to change. Some stuff I log into daily and other stuff maybe use a couple times a year.

 

[Salty]

Or you could send me your passwords, and I will keep them on file for you.

Opps - we dont have the smiley icon anymore

 

[InTheLight]

I have to keep a file on my computer that has my passwords for work. Some are required to be changed every so often and others I've never had to change. Some stuff I log into daily and other stuff maybe use a couple times a year.

OK, and how is this file containing all your passwords protected?

Anyone could hop onto your computer and do a search of your C:\ drive for the search phrase "password" and probably find your file containing all your passwords. The ultimate hack.

I used to do keep a MS Word file with passwords and URL listings on my computer. It got to be over 11 pages long. Then, because of the security problem I mentioned above, I began using a password protected Excel file to keep my passwords stored. Now I use LastPass.

 

[FootballRef]

OK, and how is this file containing all your passwords protected?

Anyone could hop onto your computer and do a search of your C:\ drive for the search phrase "password" and probably find your file containing all your passwords. The ultimate hack.

I used to do keep a MS Word file with passwords and URL listings on my computer. It got to be over 11 pages long. Then, because of the security problem I mentioned above, I began using a password protected Excel file to keep my passwords stored. Now I use LastPass.

You'd have to have my Windows logon to do so. We each a H: drive, which I am sure people have access to from IS. The H drive goes to the person that is logged in. I don't have access to anything very sensitive at work.

I know what I have isn't secure. I may have to check out LastPass. Even my personal passwords at home are hard to keep up with these days.

 

[Brent W]

I have been using 1Password for a few years now to generate and store passwords. I couldn't manage without a service like that.