- Do you always create unique passwords such that you never use the same one twice? Ever?
- Do your passwords always use different character types such as uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation? Are they "strong"?
If you can't answer "yes" to both these questions, you've got yourself a problem. But the thing is, there is simply no way you can remember all your unique, strong passwords and the sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can embrace a more secure alternative.
Let me help demonstrate the problem; I'll show you what happens when you reuse or create weak passwords based on some real world examples which should really hit home. I'll also show you how to overcome these problems with a good password manager so it's not all bad news, unless you're trying to remember your passwords.
The tyranny of multiple accounts
Think about it; how many accounts do you have out there on the internet? 10? 20? 50? I identified 90 of mine recently and there are many more I've simply forgotten about. There is absolutely no way, even with only 10 accounts, you can create passwords that are strong, unique and memorable.
What happens is that people revert to patterns including family names, pets, hobbies and all sorts of natural, somewhat predictable criteria. Patterns are a double-edged sword in that whilst they're memorable, they also predictable so even if the pattern might seem obscure, once it's known, well, you've got a bit of a problem.
Patterns and predictable words are bad, but what's even worse is password reuse. Because we simply end up with so many of the damn things, the problem of memorising them gets addressed by being repetitive. Easy? Yes. Secure? No way.
Continue reading the full article: http://lifehacker.com/#!5785420/the-only-secure-password-is-the-one-you-cant-remember
[Lifehacker]
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