Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler for November 20, 2024

Or about two weeks.

It’s time you had an upgrade.

So, you’re new here then..

I started the year with “aaaaaaa” and would end with “zzzzzz”. It worked because they really didn’t care what the password was, they just liked to annoy us every couple of weeks.

PSA

Passwords are one of my pet peeves since there are so many myths about them.

A good password needs three characteristics:

It should be long. Six characters is NOT enough. Use 12 at least and most of mine are about 20 characters long.

It should be difficult to guess.

It should be easy to remember.

Special characters, although they are recommended by many sites, do NOT add additional protection.

Think of pass phrases rather than passwords. “MyDogHasFleas” is a much better password than 8w!Ge4.

The reason companies and other agencies require routine password changes is because they expect to be hacked and they may or may not know when this happened. Passwords changed SINCE the hack supposedly are safe. I don’t like it, but I do see the reason for the policy.

The biggest compromise to security isn’t bad passwords, it’s social engineering. People build a big wall to keep hackers out and then open the gate and invite them in.

Back in the 1950’s ,TV shows, when taking a break, would say “Don’t touch that dial.” Today the admonishment should be “Don’t click that link.” If your bank says that your account has been locked or compromised or whatever, contact them directly by means you know are legitimate rather than use the link or telephone number in the message.

I felt quite proud when the boss called me into his office and handed me the key to the building’s back door. Then he told me my new shift started at 5 AM.

when I worked I used to use abcdef1 and then every time just update the number when i had to change it

Did anyone see Jeff’s editorial cartoon today? I didn’t understand the line “And everything has been fully cooked.” Can someone enlighten me?

If weeks, it’s very short. If months at the same level, it might be time to change jobs.

While I was in the Army I had a lot of classified security containers I had to unlock daily. Since they were all dial locks (combination locks) I had to set and change the locks a lot. The trick I found to the 15 safes was you learn the combo to the first safe and have a card with combos to all the other locks in that safe. I also used gun calibers for the one I had to know. Ex: 44-9-22. made things a lot easier.

So, a little over a year in a high-security computer environment. :)

I can relate, we had to change our password every 90 days on our classified network.

My local city sewer bill requires me to change my password every quarter when I pay the bill and the password requirements are stupid. If someone wants to pay my bill, I’m not going to stop them.

I went thru I don’t know many code changes on Fry’s bathroom door.