Security question

How many of you use easily identifiable/guessable information for log in, email or passwords?
With the new iCloud breaches (not hacks as they just guessed the login and pass or used keyloggers) the internet has once again proven giving real life information is a bad idea. I am sure I can still be found, but I try to make it hard. If you are wondering what to do to remember your online persona, just make your own character in a small town in a game. Flesh it out with an address complete with zip code that is far from you. Having the same country is almost a must, but faking the time zone is almost a given. Create a Yahoo, gmail and hotmail accounts with this name and fake information. Use a password manager or get a programmable keyboard like I do so passwords can be stupid complex but easy to use. Keep the info backed up on your phone if you are like me and NEVER lose your phone.
Be sure to ISP hop, it will save you $$$ and changing is not all that bad.

Any other suggestions?

 

Define "easily". Which language are we talking about?

I believe this sums it up very nicely: http://xkcd.com/936/

 

I always use phrases, numbers, and special characters in all my passwords, and not always in english or any other "official" language . . .

Exactly!

This is why Mimsy is a Superior Imperial Queen . . .

 

Touche Tim
For me I have a favourite old electronics textbook and for important passwords I copy a short sentence from the start of a paragraph deleting all spaces and then swapping the letters e and i for 3 and 1 plus the first and last words are always in "all caps". Then for my hint I put either the page number or just the chapter number or name. The book is kept in my very large bookcase with all my other electronics books and I also have a duplicate book in storage just in case something dire happens to the one in the bookcase. Because I work in R&D developing new products, security has always been paramount so in the early days I got Steve Gibson from Gibson Research to check the password strength generated using this method and it got his highest rating. (FYI Now he has an online password strength checker amongst many other security oriented aps.) BTW I have no connection with Gibson Research other than as a customer
After receiving such a positive security report I have now been using this system for 20+ years and it really works for me :cool

 

I developed and built my own password generator. Its one of the first programs I ever built outside of an educational environment, so its basic compared to what I know and do now. Its hosted here too :-D It would probably be nicer if the people I worked with didn't leave it solely to me to write from beginning to finish.

Thats what I use.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/kdg_c_password_generator.html

 

GREAT input here, I will be spreading some new ideas around my RL friends.

 

I do phrases, sometimes with a number, sometimes with periodic capital letters (according to a system that makes sense only to me). My brain does things weird, so (for instance) if I start something like my social security number at the beginning I'll get it right, but if I try to come up with the last four digits by starting there I'll get them wrong. Which is how I choose my passwords; starting in the middle of a string of numbers or a phrase, because while the real one might be easy to guess, the one my brain decides it is will not be. It doesn't even make sense to me. LOL

 

I like the phrase way better. I use song lyrics or titles but change it up in a way I can always remember without writing it down. Like Tom Clancy's "Hunt for Red October" I'd use something like "Hunt4RedDecemberbecause Octoberis to easy to guess". I get 'good strength' for sites that show results and reject weak passwords.

 

I realize I didn't actually answer the original question. I do phrases that are a mix of Swedish and English words, with a 1 in place of a lower-case L in one of the words. If punctuation marks are required I replace an i with a ! in one of the words.

 

If I shop online, which is really rare these days, I use either Paypal or Bill Me Later (which is a paypal service now). Neither of which are tied to any of my banking or CC's. That way I don't worry about getting my stuff stolen.

As for passwords, I have a few hard ones that I alternate for my banking, cc, and important stuff and a few not so hard ones (ones where I wouldn't care if something got stolen lol) for not so important stuff. It works well for me and my limited brain capacity for remembering passwords. :-D

 

I read that as, he doesn't locally either.

 

For over two years now there have been some stores in the Mall that will not take checks. If you choose to shop in those stores you have to have cash or use plastic. The reason is they say they got too many returned checks for insufficient funds from people. Sign of the times.

 

All the stores around here scan checks into the register, and don't actually deposit the paper checks. Which means account and routing numbers are in the electronic system just like CC numbers.