Thread: Password Stupidity

So true.
I had a few attempts at getting into my health insurance site earlier.
First I tried a capital on the password. No go.
Then I tried a small letter. No go, But unnoticed by me it had deleted my username.
At that stage I opened my vault to check the password and found it to be small letter.
3rd go, reenter username then small letter beginning password. Bingo.
Regards Philip A
BTW re the already in use joke.
I had an optus cable account years ago , shut it 8 years ago. Then about 6 years ago opened new account at different address. I tried to register with my old username. No go even though it was the most logical, as it seems they never delete old usernames.

Originally Posted by FeatherWeightDriver

Try KeePass - it is a password vault, so you only need to remember the password to get in to your computer and the password to get in to the vault - and then copy + paste to freedom.

I only know 2 passwords for home, and 2 for the office - the rest are in my vault.

Keepass lets you generate random passwords using all of the stupid rules organisations set, so you don't even need to go through the trial and error AndyG had to go through

Surely there would be a hacker program or something which could easily break into keepass - given that it knows where to look. ?

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Surely there would be a hacker program or something which could easily break into keepass - given that it knows where to look. ?

KeePass Security

I suppose nothing is ever perfect.

I don't think anything is truly secure, given the resources to crack a program.

The object is to make your stuff harder to steal than someone else's...

True, you could crack Fort Knox with the right time & materials,

anyhow i've convinced myself to get something like Lastpass rather than rely on my memory & bits of paper.

FWIW, it is not the IT guys setting the rules - it is the governments, lawyers and insurance companies trying to mitigate risk. The first major shift was the Italian government requiring a minimum of 8 character passwords, and every year there are more requirements.

A password tool like Personal Passworder which has 448 bit encryption is good enough for me. I can't even remember most of my passwords - so the tool is irreplaceable.

You see it in private enterprise, most often when a new guy starts.