Should I care if "John" finds my password.

[nihil]

Ah! the ASCII character set........................ need to be a bit careful there, as a lot of systems have "illegal/reserved" characters.

And some (not mentioning any names) will accept the creation of an illegal password and then not let you log in with it

Mind you, if you can include the ASCII set, you greatly increase the possibilities and hence the difficulty of a successful crack.

[Simple Simon]

You are, of course, quite right to point out that I'm not always able to use obscure ascii characters in my passwords, nihil. My apologies if I was misleading, that wasn't my intention, just posting too fast, i.e. not thinking! lol

I do like to use obscure characters in passwords wherever possible as it adds to their strength.

I hope I have added just a little value to the topic. Heh heh.

[ech0]

I had a buddy who someone got into his machine. He formatted like a good boy should they put it back on the net with ssh open. Guess who came back a second time and had the keys for the front door.

If you get p0wned by someone who has time and energy chances are they will at least come back for a second look around some time.

p.s. I always use a fake email address with upper and lower cases. i.e. Ech0@isaMember0fA0.com because its easy to remember and uses lots of stuff.... but then again my memory is crappy.

[Godsrock37]

p.s. I always use a fake email address with upper and lower cases. i.e. Ech0@isaMember0fA0.com because its easy to remember and uses lots of stuff.... but then again my memory is crappy.

ya, i find that that system works really well for me. i usually use phrases that have to do with something important to me, like a family member, girlfriend, most commonly God, etc. it makes it easy and can get pretty long. i also mix in the ascii set that simple simon was talking about and a few of my favorite numbers in various positions of the password. i have a terrible memory too, so i standardized my passwords a lil so i use some of them in a lot of places depending on how public they are and what data im securing with em and then i made myself a master list (hard copy under my printer in my bedroom, as long as no one from AO is looking through my window i think im good :P ) so i wont forget. all just my 2 cents on passwords

[cgkanchi]

I usually use a looooong passphrase for my critical passwords. Something like, "I have an Alienware Area 51 computer" and remove the spaces. So my password in this instance would be, "IhaveanAlienwareArea51computer", which is a pretty strond password. I usually use my mobile phone model number, my laptop model number etc., in the phrase.

Cheers,
cgkanchi

PS: I do not have an Alienware computer, though I'd love to

[Moira]

You could always add salt