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WatchesWhy cannot people follow the simplest instructions? For example changing ones network and e-mail passwords. It’s not too difficult, surely.
Think of a word of 6 or more characters, add 2 or 3 numbers to the end. This is your new e-mail password.
Think of a different word of 6 or more characters, add 2 or 3 numbers at the end. That’s your new network password.
Yes, they have to be different.
No, you cannot keep the ones you currently have.
No, they cannot be your name.
Yet….
Flora to David: Can I have speaker51 and speaker61?
David to Flora: Are those not the same word and very like the ones you already have?
Flora to David: well yes….better chance of remembering them…do they have to be completely different?
David to Flora: Yes please, as per the instructions.
Very next response:
Graham to David: Hi, mine are numatic16 and numatic12.
David to Graham: Sorry, that’s the same word, they need to be different. You could use 16 on both though, if that helps.
James to David: Can I change my e-mail password to j7896y4534 and I’d like my network password to be James82.
David to James: Are you sure you want to use j7896y4534 you may not remember it? We don’t let you use your name as a password, it’s not secure.
James to David: Yes I use j7896y4534 for everything, I can type it with my eyes shut. Can I have goatsmear77 for the network?
David to James: I’ll change those for you after I’ve altered your FaceBook status. I don’t want to know about the goat.
Samuel to David: Samuel32.
David to Samuel: Hi, I need two different ones and using your name is not secure. 
Can I have some others please.
Samuel to David: sorry should of read the first email. Please can I have….
David to Samuel: Hi, you were not alone…… That’s them done now.
From the office smart arse:
Smart-arse: Morning David, the passwords I’d like to choose are ********* and **********
David to Smart-arse: While recognising that these “words” are not in the dictionary and as such are likely to be resistant to all but the most determined hackers, you tried this “joke” two years ago. As a consequence, your new passwords are; for e-mail – contrafibularities314159265 and for network anaspeptic299792458. The words you’ll recognise as coming from the episode of Blackadder where he meets Dr. Johnson and his dictionary. The numbers you may appreciate as being Pi to 8 decimal places and the speed of light in metres per second.
This user won the award for the best password combo:
Network password – badaboom99
e-mail password – badabing99
Disclaimer: names and passwords have been changed to protect the guilty. BTW I relented in regards to the office Smart-arse, when he arrived in IT with some jaffa cakes. What can I say, I’m cheaply bought.
Why do they have to be different? Surely a better password would be generated by: take a phrase that you know (8 words or more) e.g. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Take the initial letters: tqbfjotld
Replace i, o, e, s with 1, 0, 3, $ tqbfj0tld
Capitalise first and last (say) Tqbfj0tlD
Crack THAT!
Obviously the rules for replacements and capitalisation (and even which letter to take) can be changed – the point is that you only need remember the phrase (and simple rules) and you’ll never forget the password.
Studies have shown that one STRONG password is much better than many, weaker, frequently changed ones.
Cheers,
Mark
Thanks for dropping by Mark,
yours is indeed a good system but you’ve clearly got more savvy users than I.
My favourite scheme is to think of a word, bung some memorable number on the end and then use a four character mnemonic specific to the place you’re logging into. For example:
teacup1977bank
teacup1977e-mail
Easy to remember, to amend and also not susceptible to dictionary attacks.
We do use the alpha-numeric replacement system for WAP access but it just confuses the users, even when we write it out for them and explain it. I’m not being dismissive but most work in a creative industry and their brains are simply wired differently.
To answer your question though, they are historically different due to us previously running webaccess with GroupWise and NetWare on our WAN. If the passwords had been the same, should that be hacked, their work and e-mail accounts would have been wide open.
Cheers
David