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TOTW: More on Passwords

You know, we’ve got some knowledgeable readers – this week’s tip comes from one of them!

Firstly can I thank and commend your article on stopping spam, it is excellent.

But there is, in my opinion, something missing.

As you pointed out people use the same username and password over and over again. It therefore makes common sense for people to have at least 2 username/password combinations. A low security one, maybe for accessing their favourite web site or games area, maybe even the account they use for chatting. And a high security one, that is used for financial, main accounts, and all the stuff they really feel is important to be kept private and secure.

Also the high security password should be virtually impossible to remember.

You can hide them even if they are written down and found by prying eyes.

Use 6 to 10 random letters. I’m going to choose 8 for my example:

"hskfjdsj"

Write them down in the middle somewhere on a nice piece of paper. Now comes the special bit. Remember the number "8" and the letter that the password began with "h".
Shove some more letters on the front and back of where your password is written down remembering not to use that "first letter".

Mine now looks like this:

 "ewroirnmchskfjdsjmncvxoiue"

All I have to remember is the code "8h" (8 letters starting with "h") and I can get my password back easily "hskfjdsj", but anyone stumbling on my piece of paper would have a very hard time figuring out the right combination.

You can of course add numbers into your password.

Excellent advice there from K Jones, which we’re happy to pass on - and there's more here, from our own Kai Chandler