RSS
Twitter
Password Rage
from the too-much dept
Last year, we wrote about how, for most people, memorability is more important than security when it comes to choosing passwords, but some sys admins will have none of that. They're forcing increasingly difficult to remember passwords on people in the name of security. Of course, this often backfires, since those who need to remember such passwords just end up writing them down on a post-it note and stick it to their monitor. While it makes sense to give users certain rules, forcing them to create passwords that simply can't be remembered doesn't seem likely to help anyone. This is one area where biometrics could definitely help, but we're still a ways off from that being common.
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
typical
I set up a new employee with a user account last week. I explained the rules for generating a new password and she typed her selection in and hit enter and got the "illegal password" screen. She tried twice more and I casually mentioned that you couldn't use your user name as a password as the system would reject it. All the color drained from her face, and she said "er, I'd better think of a different password..."
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
No Subject Given
I probably could get zapped by somebody, but why would you want to hack my things? I've got nothing anybody wants.
Security Solely Through Obscurity excuse # 5:
"I've got nothing anybody wants."
Usually stated minutes before the person's machine is rooted and used to send out 1,000,000 SPAM messages to every address stored in the address database.
If you have a computer on the internet, you have something that someone wants, even if it isn't your information on your computer.
This guy is a moron, just like half of the other whiners in the article. Yes, passwords are difficult to remember, but that doesn't mean that they should be gotten rid of. I've got 128 byte passphrases that I can remember just by choosing a phrase which means something to me. Nobody says the password has to be difficult to remember, it just has to be difficult to guess (as shown in several technical studies, including one linked above.)
Then again, Joe Sixpack doesn't have enough creativity to muster such a simple concept.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
A ways?
a = singular
ways = plural
= disagreement
This is HICK TALK which I didn't hear in the US 20 years ago and which is totally unknown outside the US. How come this is now mainstream in America? Can't you write English?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment