Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How To Protect Your Passwords From Amnesia?
Phopojijo writes "You can encrypt your password library using a client-side manager or encrypted file container. You could practice your password every day, keep no written record, and do everything else right. You then go in for a serious operation or get in a terrible accident and, when you wake up, suffer severe memory loss. Slashdot readers, what do you consider an acceptable trade-off between proper security and preventing a data-loss catastrophe? I will leave some details and assumptions up to interpretation (budget, whether you have friends or co-workers to rely on, whether your solution will defend against the Government, chance of success, and so forth). For instance, would you split your master password in pieces and pay an attorney to contact you with a piece of it in case of emergency? Would you get a safe deposit box? Some biometric device? Leave the password with your husband, wife, or significant other? What can Slashdot come up with?"
Tell all your passwords to me, they'll be safe. Just don't forget who I am.
And then, whenever you need your password, just "ask Slashdot"! Of course there will then be some jokers who post incorrect passwords, but they will be modded down rapidly since anyone can check whether the password is correct or not. Just go with the "+5 informative" one.
Amnesia is most often associated with major brain damage, which means you have a lot more to worry about than your passwords. Now zombies, those are real, which is why I'm holed up here in the middle of Nebraska with enough ammo to put the entire state out. You hear that zombies, you'll never take me alive!
For work-related passwords, my boss has every right to know my passwords if I get sick. So, it makes sense to store them offline (e.g. a piece of paper in a drawer at the secretary's office). The security my passwords then relies on the security guards at the gate.
For my personal passwords, I rely on security through obscurity: I don't believe that anyone can find my passwords in the giant mess that I call my office. If I get sick, I can use the recovery time to clean up my office. It will take weeks, if not months.
Btw, I don't need a terrible accident to forget passwords. It happens a lot for those passwords that I don't need too often.
...suffer from amnesia. Passwords generally don't, so I would not worry about that particular problem.
And now excuse me, I need to water my keyboard.
I did something really clever with my password list .... I'm darned if I can remember what though.
Try not getting amnesia in the first place! Whore!
Just ask NSA for your passwords, since they probably know them all.
Not sure if they will want to reveal them to you, though.
If you post as an AC, don't expect me to spend a mod point on you.
Pick some nerdy site, say slashdot, and create an account. Use your password as the username, but it won't stand out in such sites. Cackling devilishly at the foolishness of the masses who do not realize that your password is hiding in plain sight is optional.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact