Password Fraud

Tribonacci

My guess is that you use the same format of password for all of your emails! "Crikey, how did you know that?". You may well ask...

It recently struck me that I now have many passwords that gain me permission to find out data on MY records. To be able to remember passwords you do one of the following:

Make them really compicated but then have to write them down or save them on the PC (so that someone else can can see them or hack into them ).
Use your spouses or kids names.
Use your date of birth.
Use a simple sequece of numbers or letters (1234, abcd, etc).
Use the same pattern of letters/numbers for each provider e.g. Lloydsxyz or 12asda, etc.
Use the same password for everything.

It is no real comfort to know that the password used to keep the secrets on the atomic bomb were in a safe that still used the basic 1234 code it came with (that you're suposed to change)! (see R Feynman)

Normally you would think passwords are quite a secure way of letting the supplier confirm who you are (remember when it used to be your mother's maiden name?). However, life is not quite all it seems. Think about how many kids operate these phone centers (in Bognor or Bangalore) with no allegence to the bank or whoever and can save up your details only to pass on down the pub.

Maybe we should ask the operator his password before we will let him hear ours?