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My brain is tired of passwords.


Tranquility7
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Me too! I used to have variations of the same word number string but now so many places make you change them so often without duplicating I have used them up! And then the ones that never changed are so old I forgot I used to use that one. It's annoying for sure! 

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DH has so many passwords that he's having trouble remembering them all. The trouble seems to be that some passwords require symbols, others can't have symbols, some need both upper and lower case letters, and the lengths required vary. A couple days ago he forgot his pin number for his debit card. With all the online banking, bill paying, etc., this is going to become a real problem for people as they get older. I know WE need to come up with a solution fast!

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I hate security question. My favorite author is probably going to be different in 2 years. And, my husband, who might need to get on the health insurance site if I'm incapacitated, isn't going to have a clue who my first grade teacher was.

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I know, and because they all have different requirements, you can't just pick one that works for all.  And even when you can, they make you change them at random times.  And then you can't remember which ones end in 3 and which ones end in 4 .....

 

It's even better when you aren't sure what you provided for the security questions.  Even though I try to pick ones that will never change, I still get stumped sometimes.

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I use pretty much the same password everywhere that I don't really care if it gets hacked. For example, wtm, myfitnesspal, and the like all have the same password -- because the consequences are low. When I need to change one of them I change them all. 

 

that frees up my brain to remember the passwords for important things that I DO care about hacking. 

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Since we're an Apple family, I use my apple keychain and I let my Mac come up with my passwords. If that wasn't an option, I'd use 1Password.

 

As for security questions, I may pick a question, but that doesn't mean that I have to answer the question being asked. Just because it wants to know your favorite book, doesn't mean the answer has to have anything to do with books. It just has to be something you can remember. In fact, if you have any sort of online presence where you talk about things like your favorite books or vacations you've taken, then you are in essence giving away the answer to those security questions.

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As for security questions, I may pick a question, but that doesn't mean that I have to answer the question being asked. Just because it wanta to know your favorite book, doesn't mean the answer has to have anything to do with books. It just has to be something you can remember. In fact, if you have any sort of online presence where you talk about things like your favorite books or vacations you've taken, then you are in essence giving away the answer to those security questions.

 

Yes. I also have a specific (good) password that I use as the response to security questions. I don't care what they're asking.

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I was thinking about this today for my son, a high school senior.  He had to create many online accounts throughout the college application process.   I was musing how at his age I had to remember a few phone numbers, and that was all!  Then slowly a PIN was added in and then my SS#.  Now we have an explosion of passwords! yikes!

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I know, and because they all have different requirements, you can't just pick one that works for all. And even when you can, they make you change them at random times. And then you can't remember which ones end in 3 and which ones end in 4 .....

 

It's even better when you aren't sure what you provided for the security questions. Even though I try to pick ones that will never change, I still get stumped sometimes.

I once spent 45 minutes on the phone with a nice guy (probably outsourced to India based on accent) trying to prove I was me to my cell phone company so I could make a payment. I got the feeling I wasn't the first person who had a whole litany of possible answers depending on how long ago we set up the account and whether I did it or my husband did!

 

DH's comment is that what ends up happening is that people just end up writing them all down somewhere. Which is about as insecure as you can get.

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And today I'm panicking because I was kicked out of a work-related account for not remembering my password (I haven't used it for years, it was a backup and the main one had an issue).  So I'm trying to call the help number to get it fixed, but the phone number given is an old number that doesn't work any more.  Gimme a break.  (Of course the issue is time-sensitive.)

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I was thinking about this today for my son, a high school senior. He had to create many online accounts throughout the college application process. I was musing how at his age I had to remember a few phone numbers, and that was all! Then slowly a PIN was added in and then my SS#. Now we have an explosion of passwords! yikes!

My locker combo almost killed me!!

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I once spent 45 minutes on the phone with a nice guy (probably outsourced to India based on accent) trying to prove I was me to my cell phone company so I could make a payment. I got the feeling I wasn't the first person who had a whole litany of possible answers depending on how long ago we set up the account and whether I did it or my husband did!

 

DH's comment is that what ends up happening is that people just end up writing them all down somewhere. Which is about as insecure as you can get.

See, I have all mine written down. But, unless you live here, you would never find where I've written them. Plus, I figure if someone breaks in to steal it, they have access to lots of other even more sensitive information.

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Mamaraby hit a CRUCIAL point. Security questions being guessed is a big source of cracking accounts. If someone is asking your birthday or favorite pet's name, an unrelated nonsense answer that you secured in a password program is known by you, but not Google. That's secure. Putting in the real answer of many of those questions is a vulnerability and a huge one, at that. If someone has your email and can google your mother's maiden name, you're toast.

 

Ayup. I started giving purposely incorrect answers, too, but made sure they were ones I would know. Sometimes, I also do opposites. 

 

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If someone has your email and can google your mother's maiden name, you're toast.

Mother's maiden in particular (along with anoy other family related answers) is relly easy to find out. i remember the first time I searched for myself on sites like Whitepages or other people finder websites and they had listed my name, who my parents were, who my husband was, who my siblings are, etc. They even had my age range pretty spot on. Most of the info they had was pulled from the phone book and then aggregated with other online databases. These sorts of pieces of information are *very* easy for someone to find. Make up an answer to the question and don't reuse passwords. Otherwise, all they need is access to one and they can get their way in other accounts.

 

This is also why you should search yourself on these sites and follow the removal process outlined on the site.

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DH has so many passwords that he's having trouble remembering them all. The trouble seems to be that some passwords require symbols, others can't have symbols, some need both upper and lower case letters, and the lengths required vary. A couple days ago he forgot his pin number for his debit card. With all the online banking, bill paying, etc., this is going to become a real problem for people as they get older. I know WE need to come up with a solution fast!

I have this sinking feeling that whatever they do come up with will immediately be accused of being the mark of the beast.

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And as I get older, I can't remember like I used to.

 

Do you really believe 1Password is safe?  It makes me nervous to think of all my passwords being in one place.

 

I did research and read reviews on several security websites before downloading the app, which had another upgrade when the newest iPhone came out. I am comfortable with its safety for the types of passwords I keep there, and it's certainly safer than using the same password for everything so that I don't have to remember dozens of unique ones—which I tended to do before I started using it.

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