Comments on: Mind that password

By: Mike Loogan

Mike Loogan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:01:13 +0000

I think that other email services might have different authentication options; some of which might be a little tougher. I would look into Hushmail (even with the problems they had), Postini and a new service called JumbleMe.

By: Leandro Amore

Leandro Amore — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:48:14 +0000

In my experience the best way to make a user remember his password is the use of phrases. By using this, manage to generate long and strong passwords which are easy to remember by the user. For example you can set something like “Year 09 is over”. It’s easy to remember but it also contains upper case, lower case numbers and special characters (spaces in this case).
I always suggest this to my users with a good rate of success, which i can measure because of the amount of blocked passwords on Monday mornings.

By: David Kelleher

David Kelleher — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:39:30 +0000

Thanks John. That’s an interesting approach and one that most will not find too hard to remember or apply.

By: John Mello

John Mello — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Creating strong passwords can be a mixed bag. Programs like Roboform have password generators capable of spawning passwords near impossible to crack. Unfortunately, they’re impossible to remember, too. One solution that I’ve found helpful is to pick a memorable name or phrase and turn it into a combination of letters and numbers using a telephone keypad. So something like barrackobama becomes 2a7r2c5o2a6a. To add to the complexity, I will create some additional rules. For instance, every third character will be a shifted one. So 2a7r2c5o2a6a becomes 2a&r2C5o@a6A. You still have to remember your core passwords–like barrackobama–but reproducing their strong counterparts is relatively simple.