R.I.P. Walter Koenig, AKA Mr. Chekov

Life-Changing Password Advice

I had previously written the Password Commandments

• I – Thou Shalt Not Use Biometric Security
• II – Thou Shalt Log In to Your Computer
• III – Thou Shalt Secure Your Smart Phone
• IV – Thou Shalt Construct Secure PINs and Passwords
• V – Thou Shalt Protect Your Identity
• VI – Thou Shalt Protect Your E-Mail
• VII – Thou Shalt Use Unique User Names
• VIII – Thou Shalt Protect Your Finances
• IX – Thou Shalt Not Stay Signed In
• X – Thou Shalt Follow a Risk-Based Approach for Passwords

I still stand by all of these recommendations, but in this post, I want to focus on IV – constructing secure passwords and PINs.

Easy Method for Constructing Secure Passwords

As discussed in the original post, longer passwords are more secure.  This is a simple way to generate entire groups of passwords that are easy to remember, but hard to guess, and difficult to crack.

Step 1:  Imagine a Family of Four

Create an imaginary dad, mom, son, and daughter.  Give each of them an imaginary name – don’t use real-world names that would be easy to guess if someone looks at your facebook.

Each member of the family represents a different security level, where dad deals ONLY with the movement and management of money, mom deals ONLY with email, son deals ONLY with online transactions, and daughter deals with everything else.

Step 2:  Invent Personalities

For each imaginary person, invent a background:

• Things they like and dislike
• Things they do
• Food they eat
• Hobbies

This is a form of a memory palace, which is a way of organizing information so that it can be easily remembered.

In this case, rather than a physical (or imaginary) place, we are using an imaginary family.

Step 3:  Construct Passwords

• Pick the appropriate family member
• Pick a verb
• Pick a noun
• Use capital letters, and possibly numbers as letter substitutions
• Pick a set of symbols.  For example, maybe dad always uses ! and mom always uses $
• Pick a set of numbers.  For example, maybe mom always uses 9 and son uses 7

Conclusion

This simple framework gives you the ability to generate unlimited passwords.  As long as you can remember a few simple hints, you might not even have to write them down or remember them explicitly.