Password Tip

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mbroberg

IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
Joined
Mar 9, 2009
Messages
5,954
Location
Columbus, OH
MONOPHOTO made a post about having his identity stolen and a fraudulent charge made to his credit card. Luckily he caught it quickly and was able to get it taken care of. One of the posts in that thread talked about the hassle of maintaining multiple passwords for multiple websites. I started to respond to that post with a system that works for me but it got so lengthy I decided to put it in a separate thread instead.

Here is a FWIW tip for remembering passwords, different passwords for each site that you use even if each password is up to 20 characters long. It sounds complicated but once you start using it, it becomes really easy. I've used a system like this for years to and really don't have to give passwords much thought anymore.

Start with a "base" password. A phrase or combination of numbers and letters that you can easily remember. The year you graduated from high school, your wife's middle name, your mothers maiden name, Model of the first car you owned, the possibilities are endless. It just has to be something meaningful to you that you will be able to remember.

Once you have your base password you will use it all the time. It will be a part of each and every password you use. It can be at the beginning, middle or end.

Then you choose a formula for determining individual site passwords. Maybe the first four and last four letters of the company who owns the site. It could be a phase that you associate with that site or the service / product it offers. Again, the possibilities are numerous.

Example:

Your name is John David Doe. Your first child's name is David John Doe. Your mother's birthday is May 17, 1947. Your wife is a natural redhead. Many sites require a special character to be a part of your password so pick a special character and place it wherever you would like. I'll use a + after wife's hair color

Your base password might be: red+5jdD17djD7491

red(wife's hair color) + (special character) 5 (Mother's birth month) jdD (your initials, last initial capitalized) 17 (Mother's birthday) jdD (childs initials, last one capitalized) 7491 (Mothers birth year backwards).

That's 17 digits.

You are building a password for the IAP site. You could incorporate IAP, PEN, TURN or any other phrase easily associated with the IAP. Add it to the beginning, end or in the middle of your base password. Just put it in the same location each time so you can easily remember it. Keep combinations of uppercase and lower case consistent all the time.

For the example I'll use IAP. I'll put it at the beginning, lowercase ia, uppercase P

The password is now iaPred+5jdD17djD7491

That is a very secure 20 digit password that you will be able to easily remember. You can make it shorter if you want to, what formula you use is up to you. My passwords are 12 or 13 characters long depending on whether of not I have to change it as pointed out below.

The only problem I have had with this system is when a site requires me to change a password. I just pick a spot and start inserting numbers. 1 for the first time I have to change it, 2 for the second time, etc.

Again, once you start using this system for awhile you will be able to remember very secure passwords for multiple sites very easily.
 
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BKelley

Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Messages
891
Location
Tucker, Georgia, 30084
Some time back I purchased a little booklet (about 3 x 6) entitled Password Journal.
It has proved invaluable to my short memory. I write all my passwords in it and keep it in my safe. I can concoct some passwords unrelated to anything without fear of forgetting.

Ben
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
I like your method and would use it if I didn't already have another built in method. I might use that with my current one.

Knowing a character based language (Asian) helps me with the making of passwords by turning them into alphabetical characters and adding numbers and punctuation and symbols. My girls, my wife and I use these words too.

Knowing a good password method is a necessity today.
 

HamTurns

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2012
Messages
273
Location
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
I've used a computer based tool for a number of years called PIK, Personal Information Keeper which continues to work great, although I wanted a system I could use on my Android phone too.

I found SafeInCloud Password Manager that gave me the option of using it on my phone. Best of all with this "tool" I can use it on any internet connected computer and don't need to take anything along (like a USB stick).

Of course you still have to remember the password to get into it, to access the rest of your passwords. :biggrin:

Happy Turning - Tom
 

sbwertz

Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,649
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Another is to use a phrase, like the first line of a favorite song. Substitute & for AND, 2 for TO, 4 for FOR etc. Then you can keep a plain text file on your computer with a clue to your password that will mean nothing to anyone reading it. For example, if your pass code line for IAP was the first lines of America...Mctotslol2tis then your file could have a clue like iapusa. Anyone reading it would have no clue it was an index to your passwords, so you could keep it as a simple text file on your computer. If you have to add a special character, add it at the end and add it to the clue...for example Mctotslos2tis! clue iapusa!
 

MDWine

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
2,690
Location
Manassas Park, Virginia, USA.
I've been using KEEPER (https://keepersecurity.com/) for a couple of years.
29.95 a year, but WELL WORTH THE PRICE.

It is encrypted, keeps all my PW's, and I can get to it from computer/tablet/phone with ease. It will even put the PW into a site for me! It will generate PW's for any length or requirement, You can put notes into each entry if you need to keep track of an order or remember someone's name.

I have never had any trouble with the program, it has always work flawlessly.
I recommend it highly.
 

SteveG

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2009
Messages
2,985
Location
Eugene, Oregon 97404
I can echo Michael's favorable report...same approach, different product. I have been using Dashlane to generate and store my passwords. In use of this software, once all my passwords are stored (actually newly generated, STRONG passwords that are stored), I can just click in the desired site, and Dashlane automatically does the rest. I have found it to be very useful, and I have gotten rid of a big NO-NO in cyber security: using the same PW for more than one site.
 
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