2009-08-04

Proliferation of passwords

We all have passwords for something or the other; more so in today's world. Currently, I have the following passwords:

  • Gmail and hotmail accounts, and for Yahoo Flickr account
  • The AT&T VPN client to login to the corporate work network
  • Lotus notes passwords to log into ..well Notes, to view email
  • Corporate Intranet
  • SameTime for corporate instant messaging (which is thankfully the same as the Corporate Intranet password)
  • Online banking
  • Login to my backup NAS drive at home
  • Login to the corporate backup systems
  • Login to my blackberry
Typically, different systems tend to make you remember arcane bits of information. For example, online banking systems typically want you to remember a 4 digit code (which no sane person keeps the same as their PIN)

Additionally, all systems have different password expiration policy - my corporate systems have an 8 digit password, which should contain numbers and letters in lower and uppercase, expire every 2 months, and the password cannot be same as last 3 passwords. No kidding! Compared to that, the online systems are faily forgiving - you can have the same password all your life for say, hotmail, and it won't complain!

I haven't tried any password management systems yet, but I'm happy to take recommendations. My current mechanism is to "memorize" all passwords :-)

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