Saturday, March 3, 2012

Passwords

Passwords are such a bother. I realize the vital importance of maintaining security to avoid identity theft, however some things have just gotten out of control. It seems like I can’t order a pizza online without having a username and password. There’s an advantage with maintaining a similar password for everything, but I have trouble equating my life savings with a $10 pizza.

Certain restrictions impact the selection. For some sites, you need numbers or characters, upper or lower case or both. Some should be only 4 to 6 spaces while others demand at least 936 spaces. I’ve gotten emails that I need to update my password because it needs to be altered every six seconds. Then some won’t let you repeat a password you have used within the last 72 years. Then I got one, this is honest even, that you could not have a letter by a letter or number by a number PLUS no letters or numbers could be consecutive. I can’t remember who had such atrocious rules but it must have been something with such federal security like looking at a sales ad for a local sporting goods store.

How do people keep track? You could write them down and store them in some safe location. I could keep them in my safe, but our safe combination is written on the list and then I would never be able to open the safe. I could store them in a file marked “Dairy Products” in the guise of being tricky, but at my age I would then need a note telling me where I hid the passwords. I could stick them in the back of the freezer, but who knows what else is back there wrapped in foil and freezer wrap. Where is the confidentiality in that?

I just heard on the news last night that the number one password is “password1”. How clever, but where are the characters on that one. Who even figured out that was the most common? Did they ask people their top password and actually get replies? Right now we have 36 pages of passwords typed in size 3 font. I think they might be hidden in the meat drawer in the refrigerator or with the spare tire on Bob’s vehicle.  I’ll just order my pizza by phone to have one less secret password. I need a password to blog, but I just try my darndest to not log off.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Watch out for those passwords.

God Uses Chronic Pain to Prove that Life is Good
       -  I was getting too stiff and sore accomplishing anything of value so I got to write my blog. Thanks God! Life is good!

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