The worst mistake people make with passwords is to just use a word from the dictionary.
This is why complex passwords are pushed by people as being important, for example so a password of "hello" is much less secure than "[email protected]"
However people could happily use 3 words followed by spaces such as
"my secure password"
A password like this would take forever to crack and contains little complexity for the user to remember (and stops passwords being written down).
The important thing to remember is that a password cracker cannot guess each individual word when you set a password it either guesses all of it or none at all, so although a password like "my secure password" does not look complex enough it is would take longer than you would live for a hacker to crack.
As a new user I'm not allowed to post links, but if you search for the following in google then the above is covered in some good detail "the-usability-of-passwords-faq"
Also as suggested by a previous user, something like keypass is a god-send.
I've just logged in to MSE using a paid-for version of the unlimited-entry Password Agent, which I've used without any problems for years; there is also a free Lite version available which is fully functional, only limited to 25 entries per file.
I can recommend moonsoftwaredotcom, the developer of this software.
I have also used Keepass, which is basically the same idea.
Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to p*** us off.
Ah, forgot about Firefox's password software, Opera do a similar one too.
Thanks EmehEm, I started wondering how safe my passwords that Firefox stores are, when you mentioned the master password, which I've never thought to use before even thought I've seen it in passing. I'll still only ever store my banking passwords and certain other critical ones in my head though.
btw an old car reg which comes with letters and numbers - some just stick in my head for some reason would be impossible to guess, although perhaps I will get told they're too short.
When I was at my last job the IT Dept there insisted we all change our passwords every 3 months "for security". Although I can see the idea, I wonder how much it really increased the system security, especially as we tended to just increase the last number each time (susan1, susan2 etc).
Those who use Lastpass may wish to read this. In summary, it's basically saying that there's a possibility that a small number of encrypted account files may have been stolen, so any of those which also have weak passwords may be in danger.
btw an old car reg which comes with letters and numbers - some just stick in my head for some reason would be impossible to guess, although perhaps I will get told they're too short.
Actually, old car regs are as easy to guess as words - certainly for a brute force dictionary attacker.
EcoMiser Saving money for well over half a century
Replies
This is why complex passwords are pushed by people as being important, for example so a password of "hello" is much less secure than "[email protected]"
However people could happily use 3 words followed by spaces such as
"my secure password"
A password like this would take forever to crack and contains little complexity for the user to remember (and stops passwords being written down).
The important thing to remember is that a password cracker cannot guess each individual word when you set a password it either guesses all of it or none at all, so although a password like "my secure password" does not look complex enough it is would take longer than you would live for a hacker to crack.
As a new user I'm not allowed to post links, but if you search for the following in google then the above is covered in some good detail "the-usability-of-passwords-faq"
Also as suggested by a previous user, something like keypass is a god-send.
Hope this helps!
I can recommend moonsoftwaredotcom, the developer of this software.
I have also used Keepass, which is basically the same idea.
Ah, forgot about Firefox's password software, Opera do a similar one too.
Have not used Firefox's but here's an article for it -
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Master_password
Opera's:
http://help.opera.com/Windows/10.53/en/wand.html
Thanks EmehEm, I started wondering how safe my passwords that Firefox stores are, when you mentioned the master password, which I've never thought to use before even thought I've seen it in passing. I'll still only ever store my banking passwords and certain other critical ones in my head though.
btw an old car reg which comes with letters and numbers - some just stick in my head for some reason would be impossible to guess, although perhaps I will get told they're too short.
Thanks for the links. I've used for a long time, but was worried about security.
I'll stick with KeePass.
Saving money for well over half a century
I get your point, perhaps I should add something to it to make it harder to guess?