Archives for passwords

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 3/7/19

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Password Hygiene 1

Despite all sorts of attempts to do away with passwords, we still live in a password world on the Web. That means it’s really important to have passwords – or pass phrases – that it is really hard to crack. Here are some considerations to ponder as we construct crack-proof passwords for our increasingly online lives.

The Diceware web site mentioned in today’s program is at: world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.html

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 10/11/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Passwords: we all have them but who else knows them? If the answer if no one, it could make big problems for our heirs once we head for the next world.

And in this world, it could soon be much more difficult to loan or sell copyrighted objects which we’ve bought and paid for if the Supreme Court upholds a lower court decision on the first sale doctrine. Here’s why…

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/29/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Do you use the web? Do you use passwords to access banking or credit card accounts, or buy stuff from Amazon, or have a Facebook or Twitter account? Do you spend a lot of time trying to devise a secure password? If the answer to the first two questions is yes, whatever the answer to the third question, best listen up. We’re dealing with a whole new world of password insecurity these days, and if one of yours happens to get cracked, your digital life could take a big dive.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 9/9/10

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

If you use a computer, you may have noticed how much the quality of graphic images, especially images that move in movies or video games, has improved in recent years.

You may also be aware that the six or seven character character passwords that used to protect our access to all kinds of information are no longer much good for that purpose.
What do those two things have to do with one another?   Plenty, as it turns out. Here’s why…