Saturday, June 20, 2009

Modern Quill

Modern Quill

Passwords

Posted: 19 Jun 2009 06:11 PM PDT

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I got my new iPod Touch from Apple’s annual “Major in Mac” promotion. I’ve wanted an iPod Touch for a while for a simple reason: I don’t need a device that plays music (I have a real grown-up iPod) and I can’t afford an iPhone.

As an aside, I think it’s insane that ATT prices the way they do. Price it to the teen market and collect. If memory serves me right, a 15-year-old was the winner of Apple’s 1,000,000,000th App promotion. That should be a red flag. But the monthly data plan is insane. Whenever I see someone I go to school with carrying an iPhone I want to steal it, because I know they aren’t paying for it and Mommy can afford to buy them another.

In any event, it’s a real pain to type in your password on the Touch. That got me thinking: it’s time to organize and diversify my password collection.

I think I’m better than most about passwords. None of my passwords are dictionary words or names. All include numbers, special characters, or both. My strongest passwords aren’t English.

I’m no better than others in that, for all my logins, I only have only about 4 different passwords. Facebook, this blog, two of my emails, and my Twitter all use the same. Oh, and my credit card website, my iTunes account, my Amazon account . . . That’s not cool. That makes me one heck of a password tool. Of course, by the time you read this, that won’t be the case, obviously.

So, here are some principles that I used when I was diversifying my passwords:

  • Follow established password guidelines: don’t use dictionary words, mix cases, use numbers and alt symbols, the longer the better.
  • Use passphrases, not passwords.
  • Make each memorable.
  • Associate passwords with sites. For instance, my password for Facebook could be FifthBusiness5%, and my password hint could be “Robertson Davies.”
  • I already have a bunch of pseduo-random numbers following me everywhere. Do you have a library card? Driver’s license number? Since I work in a grocery store, I always have my frequent shopper card on my person. (My frequent shopper card is different than yours, since my number isn’t linked to my name in “the system”).
  • There is a bunch on nonsense that I know I know: the number of stars in Super Mario 64, or the license plate of my first car.
  • Jeopardy it. If my password hint is “The Bluest Eye” my password could be “WhatwasZNHs1stnovel?”
  • Or not.
  • Prioritize. I want my bank passwords, my publishing sites (blog, Twitter, Facebook) and email to have very strong passwords. I don’t care if the world knows my password to Horoscopes.com is “Misscleo”.
  • Make them memorable, at least until muscle memory sets in.
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