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write down your pw

by richard

“Since not all systems allow good passwords, I am going to pick a really crappy one, use it everywhere and never change it,” Johansson said. “If I write them down and then protect the piece of paper–or whatever it is I wrote them down on–there is nothing wrong with that. That allows us to remember more passwords and better passwords.”

3 comments

1 Geof F. Morris { 05.25.05 at 0944 }

See, I disagree. I like the suggestion I’ve been using: grab lines of songs, use the first letter in each word. Alternate capitalization, substitute 4 for “for/four” and 2 for “to/too/two” and you’ve got a pretty stout password. I’ve been on a run of using Wilco lyrics and old hymns. [Yes, one of mine is "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing". I'm Methodist, after all. ;) ]

2 richard { 05.25.05 at 0956 }

Still, it makes more sense to write down a good password than to keep reusing the same lame one because you won’t forget it.

And, I confess, it wasn’t until recently that I started using real passwords, and different ones for each account I’ve got.

3 Geof F. Morris { 05.25.05 at 1103 }

Well, but writing down a password creates a physical security problem: anyone who has physical access to the password paper can totally own you.

I used to use Zetetic’s STRIP when I had a compatible handheld; it required you to have one password to get into a database of all the passwords you have. All those passwords were stored in an encrypted database database on your handheld, so if you had the master, you could have all your passwords. Unfortunately, many places won’t allow handhelds in secure facilities, so … you’re stewed on that end as well.

Personally, I want to re-create STRIP in a Web app that I can deploy. ;)

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