How to create a secure password
“Through 20 years of effort, we’ve successfully trained everyone to use passwords that are hard for humans to remember, but easy for computers to guess.”
You can also view a larger version.
What could be the way ahead?
Credit: XKCD.
-
August 11, 2011 at 21:06 -
Spot on. Now we just have to persuade all the websites that insist we choose our password via a variant of the first case…
-
August 11, 2011 at 21:23 -
August 11, 2011 at 21:33 -
Well, I’ll probably regret revealing this method, but here goes:
Select a letter in the top or bottom row on the keyboard – that’s all you will need to remember!
Describe a SHAPE, starting from your initial letter (which should always be a capital one). Due to the key offsets, a trapezoidal shape is easy.
Follow the shape for 3 keys up/down,then 3 kesys along (left/right), then 3 keys down/up. You will now have a secure password consisting of: 1 capital letter, 7 intermediate letters/characters & 1 final letter/number.I know it sounds complicated (& that’s the point – it is to hackers and computers). But it’s so simple – all you remember is one letter!
Example: Key letter is Q
Password is Qazxcvgy7Example2 : key letter is M
Password is Mju765rdxTry it!
-
August 11, 2011 at 21:45 -
So ‘Arsenal’ isn’t any good then?
-
August 11, 2011 at 21:46 -
Well, one could try tricking computers by putting an apostrophe at the appropriate place in a password perhaps?
This week I was stopped in my tracks by a sign which read ‘Malcolms Tattoo’s’.
It struck me that both the tattooist and the sign-writing firm had no idea that the apostrophe was in front of the wrong ‘s’. I resisted the temptation to smash Malcolm’s window with a baseball bat, despite seeing on the news spirited destruction and looting throughout the nation’s cities explained away by : I think it’s about time someone in a mask turned up to protest against the greengrocer’s apostrophe.
Watch out for me – I’m sure to be arre’sted. I’m the one with ‘Charlies Angel’s’ tattooed on her right bingo-wing: I’ve hated Malcolm ever since…
-
August 11, 2011 at 21:52 -
(Shame on me – I have been busy pontificating and then I have posted a comment without reading all of it properly. This bit (“… explained away by : I think it’s about time …”) is obvious nonsense.
Ignore me and I’ll go away and get a tattoo from Malcolm. I think I’ll ask him to spell and punctuate ‘Dont be a Smart Ar’se’.
(slopes away in shame…)
-
-
August 11, 2011 at 22:42 -
And what does one do when you are restricted to 8 or 10 characters max?
-
August 11, 2011 at 23:47 -
Catsatonmat
Oh, and seriously, adding your pet punctuation mark between words just adds to the fun. Three four letter words and two marks is 14 – room for one five letter word for the usual max 15. And solves the prob when you must use punctation.
Note: I also used one capital letter at the beginning here, but you can use your own pet place, e.g. month of year as the position of it. Useful when this is compulsory too.
And if you speak a foreign language, quand le ciel est le limite.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }