Passwords

Passwords defined: words or phrases written on yellow sticky notes attached to computer monitors!

Can't live with them, can't live without them?

Pet's name, child's name, boy/girl-friend name but usually not spouse!. Sit down at someone's PC and see how long it takes to guess their password. Want some help?

First, make sure it's not blank
Next, look for yellow sticky note on monitor or top left desk drawer
Finally, look at the pictures on the walls in the vicinity of the PC

Nine times out of ten, the above procedure will yield the password.

You're kidding, right?

Not at all. And if the ideas above don't work, how about some of the most frequently used passwords? These happen to have been discovered in the MySpace phishing attack in late 2006.

password1
abc123
password
123abc
qwerty1 (hint: look at your keyboard)
baseball1
football1
monkey1
liverpool1 (the Beatles?)
jordan23 (as in Michael, #23)
slipknot1 or blink182 (both names of bands)
superman1
iloveyou1
monkey

As you can see, sometimes looking around the cubicle will give you a good clue. In fact, password cracking programs do just that. They look around all areas of your hard disk - areas in use and free space, Windows swap file, temporary directory and Windows registry looking for clues. Further, you can see that many passwords are pronouncable phrases with a simple suffix. While this may help with humans guessing a password, it's almost worthless against a computer program.

Do I really need to use passwords?

A resounding YES!

Ah, but you say "there's nothing really that important on my PC". Really? What if you came back to your computer some day and it was 100% blank; wiped out?

Nothing there? Would it be an inconvenience at least just to get it back up and running?

You really do owe it to yourself to protect your ability to have a functioning PC even if you think there is nothing on it to protect. Neither do you want someone using your PC for any criminal activity (or something that will get you in trouble with a spouse, parent, etc) that's traceable back to you! A knock on the door by guys in suits with earpieces is to be avoided if at all possible.

Need help thinking of a password?

That's what password generators are for. Now, these aren't the easy-to-remember kind, they are the secure kind. For ease of remembering, think about songs, nursery rhymes, favorite cliche's, etc. Mix upper and lower case and add a number or special character to increase its security.

For best results, use Password Safe or another quality password generator, then copy and paste the password when needed. Absent that:

make the password as long as you can stand (or allowed)
substitute numbers for letters in pronouncable words, or misspell them
include special characters (if allowed), mix into middle of password not just beginning and end
include numbers, also mixed throughout the password, possible as a word separator

How do I keep track of all those passwords?

That's what password safe is for.

Have you noticed a recurring theme here? Password Safe. It's free, effective, safe and easy to use.

Depending on the level of security you are looking for, it's probably your best option. But remember, just because you don't think you have anything to lose, you could be wrong. Better safe than sorry. Implement strong passwords and keep them locked up for your eyes only.

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