How safe are you?

[magintz]

Just a random thought, but I have perhaps five or six different passwords that I use for various different things. Ranging from a mix of numbers and letters, to long strings of numbers. E.G for me to access the library at my university my password is 11 digits long, which is my ID card number.

Is anyone like me withg lots of passwords for everything or do you have just one or possibly two?

Also, how safe do you feel your password is? Is it something personal that only you would know or just a few random words and numbers spliced together? Also how do you go about ensuring your password IS safe, what made you choose it.

I know this can be a very sensitive issue so I understand if people don't want to post. I'm just trying to get an idea because with all my passwords and all the various websites, forums and e-mail accounts, I have diffuclities keeping track of which password I use for each.

[DoorKnobHandle]

I use one password wherever I can and it's a real word that makes sense without any numbers. This way I never forget which password I used where and what that word was...

And I still think it's pretty safe, because literally noone just "guesses" passwords (I think), it's way way way more likely that your data is gonna be hacked and then your ultra-long password is not gonna help either.

SO, to summarize: if you use a word that is short and memorizable you will be safe as long as you're not hacked. If you are, then the hackers will get your password whether it is long and combined with random letters and numbers or not.

[Nacho]

My e-stuff is not sure at all... so I try to keep it free of important topics. My AGS password is easy to guess, my photobucket account is easy, my msn account is easy to get... But I have no porn pics of Lorena there, and it wouldn't really be a big problem if someone post something weird with my account, I think people would understand it hasn't really been me.

As for credit cards and such stuff, the thing is different. I use different numbers for that, and I think they can't really be guessed by just "month of birth of him + day of birth of her mom + etc, etc...". Of course I won't say which number it is! Ã, 

[SSH]

The problem with that, dkh, is that password files are often stored hashed. Then a hacker takes a dictionary and hashes every word in it, forward and reveresed, with the numbers 0-9 added at each end, etc. Then they compare all of these with your encrypted pasword and when they get a match, bingo!

A secure password should be based on a pronouncable (and thus memorable) non-word, like "phlangtooie" with some letters capitalised pHlangtOOie and some numbers and other characters thrown in: "phl4ngtO0!3"

And you should use a different one for everything, if possible. Of course, as soon as you have to write them down or start forgetting, that rukle becomes self-defeating. So at least vary them somewhat, in a memorable way.

[Kinoko]

I used to change it up a bit, but now... one password to unite them all.

No, it isnt Lord of the Rings related.

Or IS it??

[Phemar]

Anyone can guess my AGS account. And the reason is I trust people on these boards!

Other than that I basically have about two different passwords that anything of mine can be, and they're both pretty easy to guess. I'm a very trusting guy and have never had anything hacked into, I have never had a virus or spyware (despite the fact the only internet security I have is firefox). I guess I like to think I live in an ideal world

[hedgefield]

I use just one. I've used one for a long time, but last year I opened an account somewhere, and the password they gave me sounded appealing, since the old one didn't have numbers in it. So I use that one almost everywhere now.

[Elliott Hird]

My password is 6 letters long, with one number.

[MrColossal]

Hello, my name is Werner Brandis... My voice is my passport, verify, please.


Also, I just added 2 new levels to my password rotation, I have a few words and numbers that I mash up to make new passwords so I'll never forget them, new ones were added when my computer got hit with a worm.

[Haddas]

My passwords are usually something like this: "thesecretispieMAYOOOOOO112xyxyx"

[TheYak]

Hello, my name is Werner Brandis... My voice is my passport, verify, please.

Could you say that word again? I just love the way you say.. *sigh* Pass-port.  Ahh.. 

I use latin names for things I remember from past events that have no ties to my person, then I change it up with symbols and numbers - 1337-$ty13.  My biggest issues are with sites that require changes every month, or finicky sites that won't allow me to follow my proper pattern (like not accepting symbols or requiring x amount of numbers and letters).  For those, to keep track of them (especially since some I only visit twice annually) I usually have them in an encrypted database which is then re-encrypted.   If it's e-mail or forums, I could give a damn, but I'm paranoid about ID/fund related things. 

[voh]

I have a list of 40.000 randomly generated 16-character alphanumerical strings. Whenever I register somewhere, I run a program that decides a random number between 1 and 40.000, gives me the string, and then tacks it as having been used, making it non-avalailable from that point on.

At this moment I've used 167 of the strings, and I've used 5 just today.

They are very hard to guess, so I'm very secure.

However, it's so secure that after I register, I rely on my cookies, because who the fuck can remember 167 totally different randomly generated 16-character alphanumerical strings?!

I should just use a word like "the" as password, because now I can't remember what the password is for my computer

[Tuomas]

To be honest, I have no idea what my password for these forums is. I used to have a long password for hotmail, raelimperialaerosolkid.... but messenger wouldn't accept it. So I went for Finnish tradition Usually, when I sign into something, I let Opera save my password so that I won't have to remember it. Rather stupid, I know.

I also have my name spelled backwards in many places, and all I know know it... So anyone could read... hmmm, something that has that password (I don't know, I don't memorize them).

[MarVelo]

I really could care less because if they want my shit they will get it either by hacking me, or kidnapping/cutting off fingers until they have it.

[Tom S. Fox]

I have only one password for all my stuff.
So, If you'll ever find out, my mother's maiden-name is "Schmidt", I'm screwed!
No just kidding! Go ahead, try it, it won't work!
My real password is presumably easy to crack, but I'm not afraid of hackers because, why would they hack my stuff?

[The Bedminster Incident]

I keep it simple yet secure. I use one term as base for all of my passwords, and each password is a variation of this term. I used to use senseless but correct sentences back when I was twelve, but I like the way I do it now better.

I guess nobody would want to hack me, yeah. But you can't stick to opinions like these when it comes to matters like privacy. For example, if anybody hacked my account in one of the forums I'm in and posted illegal material, I as owner of the account would be responsible for this content, no matter if everyone else on the forums knew it wasn't really me who posted.

A friend of mine has encrypted his partitions with a password which is either 664 or 646 characters long, I can't remember right now.

That's, like, nuts.
- Blodvarg

[TerranRich]

My password is a regular word, usually without any numbers. But it's so out-of-context that nobody could possibly guess it. When certain sites (like credit card accounts) need numbers, I always add the same ones, but in different combinations.

[Esseb]

I use this: http://passwordmaker.org/ with custom settings.

The benefit of which is I only need to remember one arcane password, and all webpages I sign up for get its own unique password.

[lo_res_man]

i use a weird word that does not exist, but is still easier to rememeber then say some arbitrary list of numbers and letters