mbroberg
IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
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.
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.