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Passwords and security
Jul. 21st, 2002 07:53 pmLJ's dinging a lot of people about their passwords. I'm not one of them, but then, I'm on the other side of things - I'd be the one trying to clean up after a hacker's gotten through our systems. Once a system is buttoned up with all the updates and holes closed, the big, gaping hole that's left is user security. If a hacker gets a user password, it's like handing them a key to your front door.
Some tips on better passwords:
1) Never ever use a word from the dictionary. Ever.
2) Never use an all-number password.
3) Don't use anything shorter than six characters. Eight or more is usually a good bet.
4) Mix things up: use numbers, upper case letters and special characters like: !, @ or *
What I like to do is take a words, usually Gaelic, and replace the i's, o's and a's with !'s, 0's and @'s, and then add a couple of random numbers: for instance: cUchUl@!n7 It is crackable, (everything's crackable if you've got enough computing power) but not easily, and a cracker dictionary program will not turn it up. It's also memorable for me - it's the Irish hero Cuchulain, with the number 7 tacked on. Another more fannish example might be: qU!g0nj!nn or even qU!g0n if you don't like typing that much. Non-dictionary, and a mix of lower and upper-case letters, numbers and special characters. I'm sure Qui-Gon won't mind in the least.
If even two passwords to remember is one too many, MacOS 9 and up has a Keychain which will remember them all for you, and for Windows, there's Password Safe
Some tips on better passwords:
1) Never ever use a word from the dictionary. Ever.
2) Never use an all-number password.
3) Don't use anything shorter than six characters. Eight or more is usually a good bet.
4) Mix things up: use numbers, upper case letters and special characters like: !, @ or *
What I like to do is take a words, usually Gaelic, and replace the i's, o's and a's with !'s, 0's and @'s, and then add a couple of random numbers: for instance: cUchUl@!n7 It is crackable, (everything's crackable if you've got enough computing power) but not easily, and a cracker dictionary program will not turn it up. It's also memorable for me - it's the Irish hero Cuchulain, with the number 7 tacked on. Another more fannish example might be: qU!g0nj!nn or even qU!g0n if you don't like typing that much. Non-dictionary, and a mix of lower and upper-case letters, numbers and special characters. I'm sure Qui-Gon won't mind in the least.
If even two passwords to remember is one too many, MacOS 9 and up has a Keychain which will remember them all for you, and for Windows, there's Password Safe
