How do you remember passwords

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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

feyd wrote:They're all in my head. :)
But you're the matrix, so you can remember all those password.
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

Everah wrote:But you're the matrix, so you can remember all those password.
Passwords, phone numbers, birthdays, social security numbers, credit card numbers.. just about anything with a sequence of (hex) digits.
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Oren
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Post by Oren »

In my head too.
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

I can remember my SSN, my cell number and my favorite pizza toppings. That's about it.
matthijs
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Post by matthijs »

feyd wrote:They're all in my head. :)
If it weren't you I would have asked "yeah but how many is that then" :wink:
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

I can remember just about anything that happened to any popular rock and roll band in the last 30-40 years, but I usually can't remember to not lose my wallet. :(
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

Everah wrote:I can remember my SSN, my cell number and my favorite pizza toppings. That's about it.
It's not just my own numbers, it's any I come in contact with for more than about 30 seconds unless I try very hard not to read pay attention to it.
wei
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Post by wei »

a simple method to create and use password,

1) pick a master password
2) hash ( master password + domain name)

if not a domain name, choose some other appropriate name such as application name

use the hash as the password

this is basically how the PasswordMaker extension for firefox works.
matthijs
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Post by matthijs »

Something like that sounds like a good idea.

I can also use the password-remember function in my browser, but I don't trust that. If I see how many security issues browsers have, before I know, they are all gone.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

Man, you guys need to get out more if you remember birthdays, phone numbers, etc... :lol:

Your computer geeks and your relying on biological matter to track things a computer excels at? Hell I wouldn't even suggest a savant remembers phones numbers - 411 anyone?. Anything I can get my computer to remember, it does for me nicely. I save my brain power and memory for things which require human reasoning and/or practical thought. Although I have a tendancy to remember the weirdest numbers like PI or the number of feet in a statuate mile and C to F conversions. I think it is an indirect result of my dad pressuring me to be a pilot from the moment I left the womb...I was meant to grace the skies with my presence...yup...I still regret not being a flyboy :(

Anyways....

1) Use a program like KeePass - already noted.

2) Use "shocking nonsense" defined by Grady Ward: http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~conrad/kr ... e-faq.html

Pick a readily available username, it's why I chose Hockey, after years of trying to remember what my username was, I finally discovered "Hockey" was almost always available.

Personally number #2 works great for me as I always have alot of turret type feelings and emotions ready to be unloaded onto the world, but that I hold back in fear. Instead, like an artist expresses themselve through music, as a programmer I express my demons through nonsense passwords. :)

Cheers :)
matthijs
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Post by matthijs »

OK, I'll have a second look at those programs. Although I must say I'm wary of trusting all my passwords to it. I mean, how strong is such a program if a malicious person would gain access to my computer? Throw enough processor power and a bit of time at something and anything can be broken.

Thanks for the link hockey. Is that document really from '93? That's pretty cool :)
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onion2k
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Post by onion2k »

I remember them. And at least one (for online banking) is a 15 digit random sequence.

EDIT: Actually, this isn't true. I don't remember the sequence itself. I couldn't recall it when I tried to. I remember the pattern of keys I type in. That's weird.
matthijs
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Post by matthijs »

The document Hockey linked to gave a good idea. make up a real weird sentence and use that. Maybe what I'll do is make up a real weird but easy to remember sentence and take the first letters and numbers of each word, and use that as a password.

It's probably a lot easier to remember say 3-5 of those sentences then just the password strings. "Hockey Is 2 times more Funny 4 all red cars" would give "hi2tmf4arc", which seems like pretty good password.

And then for the (many) logins which are not important/sensitive I'll use a simple combi "mylogin/funnypass" or bugmenot.com
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Mordred
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Post by Mordred »

matthijs wrote: "Hockey Is 2 times more Funny 4 all red cars" would give "hi2tmf4arc", which seems like pretty good password.
"Hockey Is 2 times more Funny 4 all red cars" is a much better passwords than hi2tmf4arc (unless of course the service doesn't allow you so large a password)
Anyway, it's been (like all good things) suggested before: http://www.searchlores.org/unabpwd.htm#motips (the Georg Heym poem)
matthijs wrote:And then for the (many) logins which are not important/sensitive I'll use a simple combi "mylogin/funnypass" or bugmenot.com
Btw, before there was bugmenot there were the cypherpunks "who wrote code" (i.e. common passwords for free services were cypherpunks/cypherpunks, cypherpunks/writecode etc.).

Anyway Bruce Schneier does it best ;)

Edit: Also http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/27
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Post by bdlang »

I guess I'm fortunate or I don't get out much (thanks, Hockey!). I remember my DL, SSN, phone numbers of every place I've lived or worked, passwords, all my family's numbers, etc ad nauseum. On the flipside, I am terrible with remembering people's names. Good with faces, bad with matching names to them.

At any rate, I have a simple trick to remembering passwords; I use a string of what would appear to be random numbers and upper/lower letters, BUT is actually a sequence that means something to me related to that site. I use a mnenomic trick to create a pass and it's much easier to remember with relation to the specific site.
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