Most computer users repeat passwords, at their peril

(AP) -- Using the same password for multiple Web pages is the Internet-era equivalent of having the same key for your home, car and bank safe-deposit box.

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4.2/5 after 17 votes

• gopher65 - Apr 16, 2008
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  I can see using the same series of passwords (or even the same password) for unimportant things like forum accounts, but not for stores or online bank accounts or anything. That'd just be silly.
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• bmcghie - Apr 16, 2008
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  I know I use my physorg password for all my other forums. Why? Easier, and there is NO important info in any of the accounts besides my email address. Bank accounts and other things? You'd have to be braindead to duplicate those.
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• bhiestand - Apr 16, 2008
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  While we can all sit here and say "those idiots!", it's important to look at the reasons for this. A regular user of computer networks will have to maintain dozens of passwords which should all be separate and have varying complexity requirements. Without the use of password management programs, it is impossible for most people to manage and remember so many different passwords.
  
  Unfortunately, this lends credence to the idea of a trusted computing network. A reliable public/private key system, with something like a smartcard and pin would go a long way towards securing our networks. Other solutions have been proposed, including expansion of existing LDAP and single sign-on/cross-site authentication systems. Microsoft is attempting to tackle this issue with Windows Live Sign-On, but you can rest assured that it won't be an open standard, available to all sites, or support all operating systems.
  
  Hopefully further studies and public recognition of this problem will yield better solutions. Until then, the internet will remain the new "wild west".
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• CreepyD - Apr 17, 2008
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  I tried some password management software.. It contained a trojan. Never will I trust software to keep my passwords.
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• AJW - Apr 17, 2008
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  The act of theft is always the Key cause
  of that theft and fraud.
  "At the same time, 88 percent of the 800 people interviewed in the U.S. and the U.K. for the survey by the Accenture consultancy, which is to be released Thursday, said personal irresponsibility is the key cause of identity theft and fraud."
  
  P.S. Where is that password and biograph
  chip to plant in my brain?
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• ontheinternets - Apr 17, 2008
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  I suggest keeping passwords on paper, perhaps in two locations. This is because these cannot be retrieved by a remote attacker online by any means (unless you point a webcam at them, but that's just silly).
  
  For some further level of security, do not write down what each password is for, do not write down your login name, and for further protection, encode them with a simple trick (ie. begin at a certain offset and rotate, jump through characters in a known set pattern, shift your hands on the keyboard by a char or two, etc.). Yes, this is security by obscurity - but that is an Achilles heel for algorithms for wide and generalized application rather than ones for personal use. If you find that your passwords have fallen into someone else's hands, then use your other copy as a means to login and make new ones.
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