Posted on 05/05/2016 4:22:20 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Today is National Password Day, so here are some tips on how to do better passwords:
7 Password Experts on How to Lock Down Your Online Security (link only due to copyright)
The latest Apple/Mac/iOS Pings can be found by searching Keyword "ApplePingList" on FreeRepublic's Search.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me
Correct, horse battery staple.
I recommend a poem or a phrase that you will remember. Something like “On a warm summers evening, on a train bound for nowhere” (opening lines of the Gambler by Kenny Rogers). Then take the first letter of each word.
oawseoatbfn
Capitalize the first letter, substitute the number zero for any “o”s and substitute ! for any ones. The # can be use for t’s as it is basically two t’s stacked on each other. It then becomes
Oawse0a#bfn
That will pass all most all password requirements. It is also easy to remember a favorite song, quote or phrase.
Let’s see....
120 different accounts
120 different passwords
make them long
don’t write them down.......BUT, do use a password manager.....?
Use a strong password with caps, lower case, numbers and special characters. Here’s one:
P@$$w0rd
;ater
I've been using it for years.
I read your post and now I cannot get that song out of my head.
Thankfully, it is a favorite!
Thanks!
I’ll see if I can find similar for Mac.
BUSTED! Now I will have to change mine!
LOL! That would get you a “strong” password but is among the first a hacker would use. Best bet is to make something up outa nowhere using numbers, caps, and symbols above the number keys. At least 12 characters long.
NSA IT guy I knew helped me create a personal PW algorithm, you can too.
Childhood pet?
some 4 digit number you can’t forget.
Break things up, use the name of the website as an acronym in the password.
Dog: lassie
mom’s birthday: 0914
website: Freerepublic.
Two capital letters from the LAST syllable of freerepublic: IC
IC09lass14ie!
YOUR algorithm is a pattern YOU fill in the details of, a whole lot less to memorize.
ONLY issues become someone hacking ONE account and using your PW to decode the PW for other sites.
That’s where unique user names come into play, again, based on the preceeding.
Sounds complicated, but once you’ve written some of it down, make it work for YOU then destroy your notes.
You can do passwords like “High school best friend’s sister + his street address number”, and if you’re not a celebrity and haven’t told your life’s story on your facebook page (better yet, don’t use facebook) you should be able to write it down somewhere and still have it be fairly secure.
Anyone can run that formula on a few thousand songs and add them to their dictionary. The only relevant question is whether the system you are logging into is secure. If not, your password “strength” doesn’t matter in the least.
That depends on whether someone wants your password or anybody's password. If they want yours, they will attack various other ways. If they want anyone's and a site is insecure enough to give up hashes and salts then your system will protect yours from cracking by some amount. But that's a rather rare case. If they have gotten into some site to gain access to hashes and salts, then they probably can take more valuable stuff than that like your CC info.
according to http://random-ize.com/how-long-to-hack-pass/ that one should take 24 days to crack.
I’ve got one that I feel pretty safe with, as it would take 36,537 years to crack. Some others are would take much longer. And just adding a number (your choice) of characters such as $$$$$ or ,,,,, can make most pw’s exponentially harder to crack. And easy to remember if you use a system.
Ping
If you guys will give me your account information I can then test how secure and then get back to you with the results.
Afterwards maybe we can go phishing together.
That's a good technique; I use it myself. But instead of substituting '1' for 'I' and so forth, I insert punctuation and numbers in the phrase breaks. Simple "leetspeak" substitutions are no longer very useful, as the crackers have simply expanded their algorithms and tables to include them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.