A few months ago, I was roasting dinner in the oven at a very high temperature. As I opened the oven door, a plume of smoke billowed out sending the Nest smoke detector into warning mode with the serious, but calm female voice, “Heads-up. There’s smoke in the Hallway. The alarm will sound. It will be loud.” That is no joke.
My husband quickly tried to get into the app on his phone that had unexpectedly logged him out using our Password Manager while I ran around trying to open as many doors and windows as I could before every Nest in the entire house would emit extremely loud sirens and bright flashing lights.
We did avert the alarm and ADT smoke detector that will dispatch the fire department from going off. (I’ll talk about redundancy later.)
In that situation, would you be running to your desk or sock drawer rifling through its contents to find that golden piece of paper with all your passwords written on it? Or would you be running to your safe fumbling through the combination or entry-code only to find piles of paper when you opened it?
Just this week, it took me days to find our old tax return copies I assumed I had shredded before we moved, buried under a pile of relocation documents at the bottom of the safe.
Writing down all your passwords and storing them in a secure location is no longer good advice. Yet, many professionals still advise this. The password splitting scheme in the source link below is a new one for me and definitely not sound advice, trust your spouse who should have full access.
Some password truths:
Back in 2021, when Bitcoin was still the rage a California man has more than $250M in Bitcoin but can’t remember his password | wthr.com
A woman’s husband died suddenly leaving her a technology nightmare with many digital devices and accounts and no record of the usernames and passwords. Make Sure Your Spouse Has Your Passwords | Kiplinger
Nearly two-thirds of Americans avoid using websites or accounts where they have forgotten their password instead of just creating a new one.
The average Internet user has around 100 passwords to remember with many that are reused and easy to guess.
Many people would rather file their taxes, watch paint dry or get a root canal instead of creating a unique password. Onfido Survey Captures Just How Much People Hate Passwords (findbiometrics.com)
There is no perfect system since it is hard to stay ahead of technology and the accompanying cyber criminals. A Password Manager is still your best protection that you can quickly access with biometrics on multiple devices. Most can randomly generate long complex passwords that you simply copy and paste into the log-in screen.
If you think you’ve upgraded to modern-day standards with: mYdOG’snAmeisbengi!12-31-23, just know that AI can now steal your passwords with amazing accuracy. It happened to me, but I stayed one step ahead of them.
If you still use variations of your dog’s name and your anniversary date, stay tuned.
Source links:
Estate Planning: How To Keep Track of Passwords, Access Keys, and PINs (findlaw.com)
AI can crack your password | Security Magazine
AI can now steal your passwords with almost 100% accuracy | Digital Trends
5 Reasons Why You Should Use a Password Manager | TechRepublic