Users feel Password Rage

Pcol writes "The Baltimore Sun is reporting on Password Rage, the frustration users have with the abundance of codes they are required to memorize. Some cope by remembering their passwords with the help of a tune or a phrase, some use three or four levels of passwords with the most complex protecting financial information, and others keep all their passwords in a database - protected by a password. Security experts say that with the increased use of biometrics, our reliance on passwords will lessen in the future. Until then, it's ok to cheat - but wisely."

Comments

But where do you draw the line?

[reachinmark]

Banks in Sweden are currently running a new BankID system. You can use this to access several government facilities, including submiting claims for sick leave and possibly in (the future) voting, over the internet. The password protection? Your certificate must be unlocked with a password that is at least 12 but at most 16 characters, of which at least 3 must be digits, and 4 alphabetical characters. Oh, and you can't simply repeat a word two or three times - they check for that. The end result? A password so annoying difficult to remember that of course everyone has it written on a post-it note by their keyboard.

Now THAT gives me password-rage.

Keyring for PalmOS

[arth33]

Just protects the passwords so you don't have to lock down your whole PDA all the time (I don't really care if someone nabs my schedule/phone list). It works really well, and seems to be written with security in mind (as opposed to ease of use). According to the website, it uses "secure triple-DES encryption using a 112-bit key derived from the password". And the best part: it's open source. Pick it up here: http://gnukeyring.sourceforge.net/