Sometimes married couples see things differently, and the only way to resolve the tension is by agreeing to disagree. That’s how things played out in our home for several years on the issue of passwords. My wife viewed my focus on computer security and passwords as something approaching mild paranoia. I, on the other hand, viewed her insistence on using one easily remembered password for everything in her life as the equivalent of tattooing the phrase “VICTIM HERE” on her forehead. The only way for us to move forward was to reach an accord. We agreed to disagree, and things were good, at least for a while.
A few years later, after receiving an email from one of our sons, our accord began to crumble. I was informed that my wife’s email account had been hacked and was actively being used to send out spam emails. Of course, I did what one normally does to remedy that situation and hoped all would be good.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be. Our agreement abruptly ended a few months later after we received written notice from a credit union on the opposite side of the country telling us that they were most displeased with my wife. Credit unions don’t like it when someone gets a new credit card, immediately maxes it out, and then fails to make any payments. Unfortunately, given that my wife wasn’t the one who applied for and received that credit card, we had a new problem!
While this tale took several interesting twists and turns over the next few years, in the interest of time, I will simply share that, as a result of the initial identity theft, a federal and an out-of-state tax return were also fraudulently filed in my wife’s name. I spent over three years working to get everything cleaned up, but the one thing I can’t do, and honestly, no one can ever is to get her identity back. That’s been taken, and we’ll have to deal with the ramifications of that for the rest of our lives. Hopefully, it’s over, but only time will tell.
So, how could all of this have been averted? A strong password is a good place to start since passwords are the keys to protecting our online identity in today’s digital world.
What is a Strong Password?
A strong password is one that is complex for humans and computers to detect.
Attributes of a Strong Password
⦁ At least 12 characters (required for your Muhlenberg password)—the more characters, the better
⦁ A mixture of both uppercase and lowercase letters
⦁ A combination of letters and numbers
⦁ Inclusion of at least one unique character, e.g…! @ #? ]
Password Fatigue
Our lives today are filled with online accounts and services that require passwords. From social media accounts to bank and payment accounts. It is common knowledge that reusing passwords is a bad habit. So, we’re inclined to have as many unique passwords as possible. Unfortunately, this is very tiring and somewhat impossible because the average human brain can only memorize so much.
So, if you find it difficult to remember passwords, you may be affected by what’s known as “password fatigue.” Password fatigue is an unpleasant feeling of exhaustion people experience when they struggle to remember numerous passwords. Studies show that the average person has at least 100 passwords. That is a lot to memorize and it can get overwhelming.
How Can You Prevent Password Fatigue?
To prevent the pressure of password fatigue, we employ a password manager service. A password manager is an application that stores your passwords securely so that you do not have to remember them. These passwords can then be accessed using a master password. Some password managers even generate strong passwords for you to use.
Popular Password Managers
- Passwarden
- ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus
- LastPass
- 1Password
- Dashlane
- Bitwarden
- Keeper Password Manager
- RoboForm
- KeePassXC
- Zoho Vault
- Enpass
- Sticky Password
The bottom line is that you never know who is watching and carrying out experiments with your online identity. It takes a short time and less stress to install a password manager than it takes to recover from identity theft due to password negligence.
