How do you manage your passwords ?

Athunye · 2010-09-14 18:36:24

How do you guys manage your passwords ?

Do you guys use a password manager ? If yes, what one ? If not, what do you do to 'remember' all your passwords ?

Last edited by Athunye (2010-09-15 14:29:37)

karol · 2010-09-14 18:45:00

Athunye wrote:

what do you do to 'remember' all your passwords ?

Use them regularly: "use it or lose it".

yejun · 2010-09-14 18:48:47

I use lastpass.

lifeafter2am · 2010-09-14 18:50:34

I use my head. I have about 15 different passwords with varying levels of security; and like Karol said, use them or lose them.

Cyrusm · 2010-09-14 19:03:01

I just remember all of them. If it's something where I care about security or use often I use unique strong passwords (usually short easy to remember sentences with symbols and numbers) but if it's something stupid where I'm not too concerned about identity theft, or if I rarely log in (like random forums and groups and whatnot), I just choose from a small selection of default passwords that I probably reuse too much.

just for the lolz this weeks xkcd: http://xkcd.com/792/

pokraka · 2010-09-14 19:55:24

All my passwords are just the name of the service I want to sign in mixed with a salt.
This way the passwords are complex and never the same yet I can remember them easily.

For example, the salt being a9l_Gys, my passwords could be :
- Gmail : gam9ali_lGys
- PayPal : paa9ylp_aGlys
- ArchLinux forum : aar9clh_bGbyss
and so on...

Last edited by pokraka (2010-09-14 19:56:09)

rusty99 · 2010-09-14 20:01:20

Mainly in my head but also stored in an encrypted file.

Zeist · 2010-09-14 20:26:17

I use lastpass these days for websites since it is really convenient and good at generating random passwords for sites so that my info doesn't leak between sites.

Really important passwords like e-mail passwords, sign in passwords for computers... or my lastpass password I've just trained my self to remember in muscle memory, but I do tend to modify them a little bit every month... just small enough alterations to keep it easy to update my habits of typing them but big enough to mean that after a couple of months the cumulative change is really significant.

Last edited by Zeist (2010-09-14 20:26:51)

.:B:. · 2010-09-14 21:27:30

I have an encrypted file where I store all my credentials in, but the most frequently used passwords are in my head.

anonymous_user · 2010-09-14 22:46:55

I use Lastpass.

The only passwords that I keep memorable are Gmail, Lastpass, AIM, and Steam. The rest have been generated with Lastpass and I would not even try memorizing them.

stqn · 2010-09-14 22:56:07

pokraka wrote:

All my passwords are just the name of the service I want to sign in mixed with a salt.

The problem with this method is that now the Arch forum admins can log into your paypal account.

Last edited by stqn (2010-09-14 22:57:04)

sand_man · 2010-09-14 23:22:31

pokraka wrote:

All my passwords are just the name of the service I want to sign in mixed with a salt.
This way the passwords are complex and never the same yet I can remember them easily.
For example, the salt being a9l_Gys, my passwords could be :
- Gmail : gam9ali_lGys
- PayPal : paa9ylp_aGlys
- ArchLinux forum : aar9clh_bGbyss
and so on...

I do something similar but mine are less complicated

arinlares · 2010-09-14 23:22:40

Cyrusm wrote:

just for the lolz this weeks xkcd: http://xkcd.com/792/

I found that spooky because I used to do that (the one-password thing, not the snatching with non-profitable services thing).

I store them in a notebook that I keep with me whenever I'm using my computer, after having generated them with KeePassX., as many are for things I'm registered for, but don't use much, so they aren't committed to memory. While somebody can steal a notebook, should the worst happen to my computer, I still have them, and the notebook never leaves my sight.

Athunye · 2010-09-15 00:28:52

Thank you you all for the replies.

I also use LastPass for websites. But I have to remember some mysql passwords and a bunch of passwords to access computers, so, keep a pendrive with a text file with all my passwords. Of course, this is not plain text. I encrypt the file with gnupg.

Of course, I know some passwords by heart, but not many...

Last edited by Athunye (2010-09-15 00:32:54)

cesura · 2010-09-15 02:07:22

I only have 2 passwords to remember.
1) Root password
2) Everything else

Except they're both so strange that no one would be able to guess them.

Last edited by cesura (2010-09-15 02:07:38)

fsckd · 2010-09-15 02:52:48

I have them written on a sheet of paper. If I forget or die they are easy to find.

itsbrad212 wrote:

I only have 2 passwords to remember.
1) Root password
2) Everything else
Except they're both so strange that no one would be able to guess them.

So if I get you to register on my site, I have everything else?

denisfalqueto · 2010-09-15 03:09:57

I use PasswordMaker. It has extensions for Firefox, Chrome and a standalone javascript page, which I store in my main computer. It is usefull for other kinds of passwords beyond web too.

onearm · 2010-09-15 06:37:08

The dozen most used I just remember them; for the tons of others (openid didn't exist 10 years ago *sigh*), I have a small ssl encrypted text file that is written unencrypted when I need to the encrypted swap (so no traces are left in clear to the disk)

SanskritFritz · 2010-09-15 07:00:50

Another happy KeePassX user here.

codycarey · 2010-09-15 07:19:49

I have four very random passwords I use; three of them are 8 characters and the fourth is 16 characters. I use different combinations of them depending on the context they're being used in. I find that this makes for a much better system than using a ton of different passwords and some software to manage them with. But like fsckd I keep a list of important passwords that others (family, coworkers, etc) will need if I do bite the dust.

kgas · 2010-09-15 08:49:22

since the password list is growing currently using pwsafe.

>>SanskritFritz: Another happy KeePassX user here.
How do you mange the password file corruption? I tried earlier but the password file gets corrupted easily for no reasons. Another one is if you use keepassx from command line all your passwords gets displayed in the terminal.

thisoldman · 2010-09-15 10:59:00

I use KeepassX in Arch and MS Windows, keeping a password database on a USB stick.

KeepassX was originally a Linux port of the Windows software Keepass. That caused me some difficulties, a while ago, before I realized the two programs were not the same. KeepassX cannot read Keepass 2.x databases; KeepassX can use Keepass 1.x databases.

@kgas -- I've used some version of this program since at least 2006. I've not experienced any database corruptions on either platform, other than the one I self-inflicted before I realized the difference between the two distressingly similarly named programs.

bharani · 2010-09-15 12:00:36

sand_man wrote:

pokraka wrote:
All my passwords are just the name of the service I want to sign in mixed with a salt.
This way the passwords are complex and never the same yet I can remember them easily.
For example, the salt being a9l_Gys, my passwords could be :
- Gmail : gam9ali_lGys
- PayPal : paa9ylp_aGlys
- ArchLinux forum : aar9clh_bGbyss
and so on...
I do something similar but mine are less complicated

Mine too is similar.

SanskritFritz · 2010-09-15 12:14:22

kgas wrote:

>>SanskritFritz: Another happy KeePassX user here.
How do you mange the password file corruption? I tried earlier but the password file gets corrupted easily for no reasons. Another one is if you use keepassx from command line all your passwords gets displayed in the terminal.

I never had any trouble with the database, even when using it with both KeePass and KeepassX. Also I have a versioned backup of the file with duplicity.
That with the stdout I didnt know, thanks, better be cautious about this.

milomouse · 2010-09-15 14:48:11

as far as how i manage them, i have a small spiral bound notebook with some templates that only i know how to decrypt. something related to the password and then i'll know what it is. and as far as what they go to, i scribble something next to them like "rome", which is big and important like my root drive. (an example).

but as far as the actual password, mine are usually a line of a frequently read poem, lyrics or quote, etc. an example would be:
"To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead." -Samuel Butler
turns into:
!H_#(%=?m+t4i6@D-&?cN+7?>2
if you examine it with the right mind-set it makes sense. most commonly the last two characters if you're familiar with shell (which is what i mix in sometimes). other passwords are more lisp-like or lua-like than not, or not at all, depending on the website and if i decide to mix it in there (short-hand-ish, mind you)

Arch Linux

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