Bruce Barber, from the Real Life Survival Guide, recently interviewed me via phone for a segment on Password Security. That segment will go live today on Connecticut Public Radio, so I’d like to welcome any visitors stopping by as a result.
For the rest of us that don’t happen to live in Connecticut, here is the interview as graciously provided by Bruce.
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As further reading on the topic of password security, please see my complete article on How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords. And if you are looking for the password manager I referred to called Roboform I created a short RoboForm Demonstration Video to get you started.
You’ll also find over 30 other related articles in the Security category.
For the regulars around here, you really should stop by Bruce’s site and listen to his other interviews (he’s even got an RSS feed to subscribe to). There are a lot of great tips, and he is a true professional so these are high quality audio clips. Believe me, if it weren’t for the magic of Bruce’s editing prowess mine wouldn’t have been very good!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello John, I have read your article ”How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords” and in fact, it has really educated me a lot. As a benefitiary of you article, it is my hope that God will richly bless you.
Greetings, John. I just read your Lifehacker password piece.
I’m in IT and tend to have pretty long/complex passwords. I do, however have a few that are similar to each other. How dumb is it to use passwords that are complex, but similar like:
ThisIsMyYahooPassword23!
ThisIsMyCNNPassword23!
ThisIsMyNeweggPassword23!
ThisIsMyBestBuyPassword23!
They’d be totally different as hashes, but if somebody broke one, they’d likely be able to guess others.
Well, the thing is Gary, if someone is after YOU specifically and there is a pattern to your passwords that is obvious then you are going to have a problem. But in most cases hackers are going after the low hanging fruit and are using automated tools to test passwords en mass until they find one that is vulnerable.
So, you are safer because you are using different passwords for different sites, but if someone is really out to hurt you and can compromise one they can likely guess the others.
Cheers,
John P.
Thanks John! I appreciate the insight.