Good morning, mountaineers, motorists, mad dogs and mellow monks! The drive is happening on hazardless highways today. Nothing for this road reporter to give you as far as obstacles to watch out for or unusual circumstances. Just drive.
So, let’s talk about passwords. I think that we need some sort of standard… it could be called the, “Password Institution Standard System.” Maybe it could even just be referred to by its acronym. Anyhow, we need some order, as every venue that requires a password has different “rules,” and with so many different “rules,” the ONLY way to keep track of them is to write them down… thus defeating the purpose of passwords, for the most part.
There are about 75 different websites or accounts or application that I need to access for personal or work- related purposes. Some require a four- digit numerical code (typically called a, “PIN,” and not a “PIN number…” and don’t use it at the ATM machine… there’s no such thing!). Other sites have fancy rules, often so convolutedly complicated that it takes an hour just to figure one out that will actually meet all of the requirements. For example, one credit card account that I frequently access (which, incidentally, requires a new password EVERY 30 days!) has the following rules. The password must contain:
At least one numeral
At least one lower case letter
At least one capital letter
At least one “special” character
At least eight characters total (up to 32 characters, incidentally!)
Fine… sounds easy enough, until the rules of PROHIBITION are applied:
No consecutive digits
No repeating digits or characters
No part of your name
No fragment of any previous password
No “patterns”
Notably, one rule that I have yet to see on any site is a rule prohibiting vulgar language… and, since it can take me an hour to try to figure out a password that meets all of the rules as listed above, I usually seem to have a significantly long list of ideas in that department, right there on the tip of my tongue, or, more likely, spilling voluminously off of it. These “words of a salty nature” (often called, “cursive…” Can you believe that they actually teach this in schools, to children?) find a prominent place in most of my passwords, and, for effect, these are usually in ALL CAPS. Almost all of my passwords now contain foul language, most of the time with a suggestion that the company in question can go do something to itself with a dirty mop handle, and to the 182HorSe$$$ THAt they 9876 rodE in on85!&!!19#$.
But, every place has different password rules, so, as mentioned, they ALL NEED TO BE WRITTEN DOWN… No human, at least of MY intellectual capability, can remember that many passwords, especially when they all have to be different, and when SOME of them need to be changed regularly. Oh, just put them all in list somewhere, I’m told… but PASSWORD PROTECT IT, for security! Fine… now, with ONE password, a hacker gets every single password in my realm… and my net worth (now approaching $300, if I may boast a little!) is at risk.
Fortunately, there are applications like the one at my office: When signing in, it asks for the password… however, there’s a little note directly beneath it that explains that if you have forgotten your password, you can simply “click here” to bypass the password requirement. So, that helps. I haven’t found that feature on my bank account sign- in page though, so maybe I need to suggest that feature to them.
Okay, rant over… tomorrow is the Fourth of July! I recently learned, incidentally, that Canada has the fourth of July, too! It’s right in between the third and the fifth! Anyhow, celebrate, party, be proud to live in the greatest nation on Earth, enjoy your freedoms, thank a vet, don’t play with illegal fireworks, don’t forget to not go to work, don’t drive drunk, be good to each other, BBQ and drink (a little) beer, but MOST importantly, do NOT use consecutive or repeating characters or any fragment of a previous password!