Password choices

[Gary Benson]

Well, I got all security conscious reading about passwords, decided that
I'd better change mine. In doing so, however, it occurred to me that one
aspect of this discussion hardly ever gets mentioned: how to REMEMBER what
you've changed it to. Herewith a few ideas to start things off:


1. Don't change your password on a Friday unless you write it down and put
   it in that secret compartment in your wallet.

2. If you write it down as a reminder, encode it somehow. For example, if
   you choose the first letter of the words making up a sentence, write a
   permutation of the sentence. Here's what I mean: say your password is
   TitdwtLhm (This is the day which the Lord hath made), you could put on
   your "TODO" list, "Remind Rev. Ike about psalm 37".

3. Use the same "style" of password. For example, you might use biblical
   references one month, David Letterman quotes for a while, names of trees,
   streets in New York City, parts of a flower, and so on.

Any other ideas about how to remember what you changed to? I seem always to
break my first rule and change it on a Friday. Monday morning comes and I'm
all set to login, and BANG - mental block because I never write it down.



-- 
Gary Benson		   -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-inc at tc.fluke.com_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Publication Services	   Ensign Benson, Space Cadet, Digital Circus, Sector R
John Fluke Mfg. Co. Inc.   _-_-_-_{uw-beaver, sun,microsoft}!fluke!inc-_-_-_-_-