Everyone HATES Passwords!

Scott Hoffman, Senior Network Consultant, OneSource Technology, Inc.

Passwords! EVERYONE loves to hate passwords. If you are following Microsoft’s minimum password complexity requirements your password cannot contain your username and must contain characters from 3 of the following five categories: Upper case, Lower case, digit, or special non alpha characters. The first thing you usually see when this policy is enacted is people writing down their passwords and keeping them somewhere within reach of the computer. I don’t really think this is what Microsoft intended for increased security. It’s no wonder this happens though most peoples brains can’t relate to A&u7hRkX as a password. So the next time you need to come up with a complex password change it to a PASSPHRASE. Most systems allow passwords much longer than the 7 or 8 character minimum. How about “Walk?Itake1bicycletowork!” as a password. This passphrase is easier to remember and is just as secure as the previous one. Just remember keep your fingers off the spacebar. Computers get confused by wasted space.