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Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Happy Blogaversary To Me!

 AND THE PASSWORD IS…


I have no opinion for this week's Cranky Opinion Friday. 
Instead I offer this re-run, my very first post of almost 3000 posts, on this my 
10th cranky Blogaversary 
When I was working for a major Wall Street firm I must have used at least 15 applications which required a password for access.  I would have liked to have used only one password, but that was not possible.  You would think that a company would establish one set of rules for choosing a password.  You would think wrong. 
One application required a 3-5 alpha character password; one required a 7-10 alpha character password.  Some applications required at least one uppercase character, and some required at least one numeric.  Most applications required the password be changed every month.
I used at least seven different passwords.  For those applications which were not used every day, violating the password was a given.  Unless I guessed correctly it would be three tries and you are out.  I wonder how many hours of productivity per day are wasted by employees trying to have their passwords reset.
We were always warned that choosing a password was important.  Do not pick something obvious like your birthday.  Don’t use your initials.  Don’t use the names of your wife or kids or pet or your parents or your grandparents.  Do not use any name or number that anyone could tie to you as that would be too easy for a scammer to figure out and get unauthorized access to an application.   Essentially the rule was to never choose a password that you might actually remember.
Since I could not remember the seven to ten different passwords I was required to use, all of which I was required to change monthly, the obvious solution was to record all my passwords and the associated applications on a piece of paper and leave it under my keyboard.  This also was frowned upon.
“Do not leave your list of passwords where they may be easily found!” 
OK, I cannot use passwords which I can easily remember, and when I write them down so I can remember them, I need to put the cheat-sheet in a not obvious place.  In effect, hide the list of passwords which you cannot remember in a place that you will also not remember.
I developed a secret code based on numbers and the alphabet.  Using this code, I recorded the hiding place that I could not remember which held the passwords for all the applications which I could not remember and placed it under the keyboard.  I recorded the key to the code which told me where I hid the passwords that I could not remember and hid it somewhere no one would ever suspect.  I recorder this location on a piece of paper and taped it blank side up to my keyboard.  On the blank side I wrote K2PWLcLiUtP (Key to password location code location is under this paper.)
Weeks later I was fired!  At night, my computer was broken into and an application accessed which enabled the hacker to steal sensitive information which cost the firm several million dollars.  I was fired for breaking the rules of password security.  I forgot that the password for this sensitive application was K2PWLcLiUtP.
Shit!

12 comments:

  1. Happy Blogaversary to you! Maybe you could have carried a list of your passwords in your shoe. Nobody would find it unless you got robbed of your shoes, which of course you wouldn't, because you'd be smart enough to wear really boring or ugly low-demand shoes to work. Even IF somebody was out stealing really ugly low-demand shoes, they would likely not want to touch a sweaty piece of paper with gibberish on it. Putting your feet into used shoes is not nearly as undesirable as touching somebody else's foot-sweat with your hands. In my opinion...

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  2. Happy Blogiversary Joeh. I never understood why the password was so crucial but then I never worked where it cost millions if I screwed up. Yikes.
    I have mine on post it notes stuck to the wall to my left. I figure if anyone is sitting at my computer--I am probably dead anyway.

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  3. Happy 10 years on Blogger! I wonder what the average life of a blog is?
    How about the security questions that never seem to help with lost passwords?

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  4. Passwords are still the bane of our existence too. Getting fired when they created the problem boggles the mind.

    ♪♫Happy Blogoversary to you,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Blogoversary to you,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Blogoversary Dear Cranky Old Man,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Blogoversary to you.♪♫

    Have a fabulous day and weekend. ☺

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  5. Ha. ha .... exactly what happens to me..... forgetting the password of the password file.

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  6. I hope getting fired is just hyperbole. I would think being able to access 3 mil would take more than one password. But dang if I can remember a password. I got a sick laptop I was going to fiddle with the other night. I've forgotten the password I used to access the machine. Oh well. But my password Buttermilk55 I understand is all over the dark web.

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  7. I use swear sentences for passwords. Like "Open up you **** ****" Some applications locked me out for swearing at them.

    God bless.

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  8. Happy blogaversary! I hope you have many more so I can laugh more! Love your blog!

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  9. Happy Blogaversary.

    Passwords are a pain in the butt. I now, reach for the dictionary and pick a word and use the page number and the only thing I need to remember is the special character I used.

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  10. Happy Blogoversary!

    If you ever figure out how to create passwords that you won't forget and that no one can guess, please let me know.

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  11. Happy Blogoversary!!Quite an achievement of 10 years of blogging! While I have blogged since 2005, it hasn't been on the same blog during all that time :)

    I had a simple method for passwords where I had one password for sensitive things (like bank business, bill paying) and another password for fluff (web sites requiring passwords). Worked for years until they started requiring passwords be "stronger" like making sure a capital letter was used as well as a number as well as a special symbol (like asterisk and the like). Then my system went caput for the most part. Now if I can and the computer lets me, I save the password to the computer and it opens the site the next time I am there.

    Winslow started a blog the other day unbeknownst to me. Supposed to be fluff and lots of corgi pictures and stories. No obligations but here's the link

    https://winslowscornerofarizona.blogspot.com/

    betty

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  12. what an intense story dear Joe yet it made me laugh at end

    your brain must have developed a special shelf for these passwords ,yes i agree with first comment ,you could have hide the list in your socks ,it was my best place to hide my pocket money during school time :)
    Happy birthday to your amazing and delightful blog that always makes me feel light and smiling eventually :)
    more happiness ,health and peace to you and family!

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