1 EAGLETON NOTES: Passwords and Usernames

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Sunday 30 October 2011

Passwords and Usernames

How many web pages, online stores, online services, cellphones, utility accounts and so on do you have?  I have no idea how many I have but the general list I keep (ie the low security websites and not things like bank accounts, telecoms, email accounts and so on) has just reached 100 and that's after a culling of the old ones I no longer use.

I don't know about other people but I do not use the same username or password all the time: in fact I have dozens and dozens of passwords.  Having had my American Express identity stolen on one occasion (and Amex sorted it out quickly and effectively and removed all the fraudulent charges without my even asking thus making me an even more loyal customer) I am very finicky about password and pin number security.

However my feeble brainpower is just not able to keep all that information in my head so I have a spreadsheet with it all on and I keep bank and email account information completely separate.

All of it is, however, in encrypted files of one sort or another.  I used PGP Encryption back in the day when it was free and public encryption programs were not so readily available.  Now I use various other programs including McAfee and Apple.  The only problem is that, in order to satisfy any enquiry into the security of the encryption, the passwords I use are all a full sentence long.  I've been using them for so many years I doubt I shall ever forget them.  But you never know.  And if that happens........

8 comments:

  1. My bugbear is matching the username with the right password...who am I on this site?
    And the work policy to change things every three months using capitals numbers etc is a pain... I have three highly complex passwords to remember there on top of all the other lifestyle pages.
    Mind you, if we rely on fingerprints or retinal images we might get mutilated for our passwords. Not that hey will get much out of me :(

    Voice control? Speech recognition?

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  2. I do hate passwords. I am seriously considering stopping buying things online!

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  3. It's one of my major fears - to one day wake up and find my mind blank and all codes and passwords gone!

    I don't think I'm up to 100 yet but I do vary my passwords, and some that I don't use so frequently I have to look up when I need them. The problem is that sometimes I update a password but forget to update my notes...

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  4. I've forgotten what comment I was going to leave - now that's really worrying...

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  5. It's a very contemporary phenomenon isn't it - having to keep a list of user-name and passwords.
    A sign of how complex our lives have become.

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  6. Fiona I once decided to rationalise my passwords so that I could have a formula for remembering them. A task too many. It's still on the list.

    Island life again Jenny. Online shopping is a saviour. So many sites now require a username and password though even if you are not buying anything.

    Monica, my mind goes blank every time I have to remember a password.

    CJ, abiit ad plures (well literally if not actually)

    Chloe. Good to see you here. Yes, I sometimes think that it is all just too complicated.

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  7. There are advantages to being the Ultimate Hermit.
    I seldom use Computers or Cell Phones and generally the World has placed me in the too hard basket and ignores me completely.

    Occasionally I step out of my hermitage and quickly leap back inside overloaded with the potential expectations and important things to be done which people expect from me.

    The worl does not end with Minimal Money, Computer Use and being incomunicardo, in fact its all actually quite a pleasant and enjoyable lifestyle

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  8. Mind you, I had my identity stolen or recreated by overzealous Government Corporation Staff trying to meet key performance indicators and then trying to cover their misdeeds by blaming me, which drove me into seclusion and leaves me being the person whom before anybody can do anything must prove I am the person they are Managing.

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