rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Not that much but doing it this way sort of unifies the Apple experience. For myself, i just stopped using gmail, i forwarded my mail to my iCloud account for a while, then shut her down!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Thanks for the response.
Mark

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

I have constructed passwords based on events in my life, using code letters for the event that make sense to me but mysterious to others. One type for financial institutions, another for social groups, another for health institutions. My shortest is 10 characters, longest 15 characters. If you look at the password in binary, it is just a string of 0s and 1s. All you have to do is rotate 1 or more bits to the left or right. Another trick is to put an arbitrary number of bits in the header. Suppose your password has an "m" in it - what is the probability that any vowel follows it - is that not how cracking software works, basically. Take out language letter structure and their tool becomes useless.

stonecherub Loc: Tucson, AZ

This is from Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram of Oct 15 this year:

Changes in Password Best Practices



NIST recently published its four-volume SP800-63-3 Digital Identity Guidelines. Among other things, it makes three important suggestions when it comes to passwords:

* Stop it with the annoying password complexity rules. They make passwords harder to remember. They increase errors because artificially complex passwords are harder to type in. And they don't help that much. It's better to allow people to use pass phrases.

* Stop it with password expiration. That was an old idea for an old way we used computers. Today, don't make people change their passwords unless there's indication of compromise.

* Let people use password managers. This is how we deal with all the passwords we need.

These password rules were failed attempts to fix the user. Better we fix the security systems.

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-63-3.pdf

Why password complexity rules are bad:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-man-who-wrote-those-password-rules-has-a-new-tip-n3v-r-m1-d-1502124118 (link behind paywall)

Why password expiration is bad:
https://securingthehuman.sans.org/blog/2017/03/23/time-for-password-expiration-to-die

Stop trying to fix the user:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7676198/
************************************************************

KXCD (the snarky cartoon) ran a password feature a couple of years ago - it's probably searchable.

My understanding of the math is that phrase length is far more important than complexity as far as brute-force password guessing goes.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I don't understand it, either. I use Gmail to get both RoadRunner and Gmail. When I'm on my Mac, the Mac wants the RR password so it can get the RR mail by way of Gmail.

To get my email, I click on the big red M - the Gmail icon. That retrieves both RR and Gmail through the Gmail application. For some reason, Apple wants my RR password. It does the same thing on my iPad and the MacBook Pro. When I change the RR password, I have to change it on the iMacs and the iPad.

I've got another funny one. I wanted to change the p/w for my bank. I followed their rules, and the word was accepted. When I tried to log on, I got "Invalid Password." I tried two more times, and then tried the old password. No good. I was going into town anyway, so I stopped at the bank, and the teller reset my p/w and gave me a temp - 123456. I typed it in, and it was rejected. It wouldn't let me log on. I tried this from two different computers. Not wanting to drive into town again, I phoned the bank. "Due to a network error, your call cannot be completed." It's been a couple of hours, and they still have the network error. Maybe that's why my p/w doesn't work. You gotta have a sense of humor.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks. Interesting.

Rich Maher Loc: Sonoma County, CA

Take a deep breath Jerry.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Jerry,
I think the cyber net ghosts have it in for you. They create these scenarios to keep you busy. They also provide great stories for your daily UHH posts. Your daily dilemmas are unique. So much so, that nobody understands them or even has an inkling of a solution.
Stay warm my friend.
Mark

stepha11 Loc: Trail British Coluimbia

I said before; I hate passwords because the only place they're needed is finance or personal privacy which should be my choice. Windows ten refused my password; cost me of over a hundred to fix that. Now an upgrade, no access because password not recognized. I guess I don't know which is worse;password or Microsoft.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

[quote=markngolf]Jerry,
I think the cyber net ghosts have it in for you. They create these scenarios to keep you busy. They also provide great stories for your daily UHH posts. Your daily dilemmas are unique. So much so, that nobody understands them or even has an inkling of a solution.
Stay warm my friend.
Mark

It's because you live where it's so damn cold Jerry. It makes computer karma (which prefers warm climes) unhappy.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, I do have odd problems.

I'll go the bank again tomorrow and see if they can get me online. I could understand if their system rejected the password, but it said it was okay. Once I get this mess straightened out, I'll never voluntarily change another password. I'd like to have one word for everything, something like "Password6&." It has at least eight characters, upper and lower case, a number, and a symbol. One word for everything!

pipesgt Loc: Central Florida

I just myself an Amazon Echo. I am trying to get it set up. I am using every password I have ever used. And It still won't accept it. I am about ready to throw it out of the window.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

So far, so good. The bank reset my password again, and I'm back in business. My iMac is finally retrieving my RoadRunner email.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You have my sympathy and understanding. Every device should have a way to reset everything to factory settings. Sure, a thief could come into your house and reset it, but maybe that would also wipe everything, so there would be no info to steal.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

I get tired of passwords too, especially when I click "Save Password"??