Passwords on line........surely there is a better way?

If I write any passwords in a book, it is highly unlikely that a burglar would be able to read them as they are in shorthand!

Please don't be fooled by thinking that protecting your passwords at home is your main problem - it is not. When you register an account online, you need to provide a password as well as other details. Your online account with all its security details is dependent on the security of the servers but ultimately protected (encrypted) by your password. The more complex your password, the greater the protection.

Servers holding such sensitive information are under regular attack from criminal hackers. If they manage to harvest security information from servers they will either crack the passwords themselves or sell them on. If you use the same password more than once and that is exposed, so are all accounts using the same password.

Account security is improving all the time, fingerprint and face ID recognition are already widespread and are particularly used to open your devices. My bank account checks my live photo when I request money transfer to a new service. Two factor authentication, (login then one-time PIN sent to your device or phone) provides another layer of protection.

It's tough and off-putting for those who struggle with technology but it is better to write complex passwords down than to re-use simple ones. A spreadsheet on a well protected device helps, copy and paste eliminates errors. I would also recommend a password manager but they can be complicated and may be overkill, depending on the number and sensitivity of accounts you have.

I heve mine written down in a book which looks like any other book on the shelf behind me. God luck finding it if you burgle my house because I have over 1000 books.

Criminals are lazy and stupid and will just grab what they can - jewellery, money, phones, laptops and so on. They are not going to pull every book off the book shelf.

Drives me mad too. Have mine written down in the back of a general note book, just the first letters etc. Yes, some keep asking for renewed passwords [Grrrr]. One site, no matter what I put in would come up with a reason why it was unsuitable, so I gave up having an account with them even though I use it a lot.

I have mine hidden away in the house but they are on the laptop in a Word document that is password protected and the document is not saved as 'Passwords'. the DDs know how to access my laptop and the passwords document. Some sites I access have the password saved on it eg the magazines and newspapers I read online so I don't have to use the password every time.

My mother used to have trouble (in her late 80's) remembering her PIN code, but fortunately she had a local bank branch where they knew her and would give her cash without a PIN. It's a bit tougher for us now as four bank branches which we used regularly have been closed and the one we are forced to use wouldn't know us from Adam (or Eve).

One of my credit cards regularly asks for an authentication code when I shop online, but you can have this turned off for individual retailers (such as those for online groceries) if you use them regularly. My credit card also wants to text me a code to even let me onto the site.
Financial sites in particular have very complicated systems with account and customer names and numbers, different passwords for different functions on the site and so on. Unless you use a site pretty regularly it's very easy to forget them - and it obviously isn't safe to write things down unless you have a safe to keep things in.
I can see the point of all this but know that when I am older I may well find it very trying to remember it all.
Some banks use voice or image recognition for telephone and mobile banking and once everything is set up on your mobile life does get a little easier in this respect at least.

I write my passwords down in shorthand in a notebook having been a Shorthand Typist. When I am gone, my husband will have to ask my friend (who also did shorthand many moons ago) to decipher my passwords.

If you have an iPhone, then the keychain will ask you if you want to save the password when you create it. I always do and it’s a game changer. I never have to save a password in Notes and it has rarely failed me.

There are password manager apps. You can enter your password for say Gransnet and anytime you want to access GN the manager automatically enters your password. You have to set it up to do this. Otherwise, it just stores your passwords. To access the password manager you need your code password but one password to access and activate all your other passwords is easy.

I. have seen the advice to not use birthdays or children's/pets names so I use the initial letters from favourite poems or saying. and change a letter for a number.... One I don't use is Iwlaac.

I sometimes use words or numbers for passwords and write them as clues such as’ eldest grandson’s middle name ‘ or youngest granddaughter’s date of birth. Strangers wouldn’t know these details.

I dislike the multiple requirements for logging on, too. I use a pattern, parts are the same, and parts change for the site. I saw a chart, can't seem to get it attached here, but thought it interesting. It takes a hacker 4 minutes online to "brute force" your 13-number-only password, but 2M years if you have a mix of numbers, upper & lower case letters, and symbols. This is one of several sites I've seen the chart:

www.komando.com/security/check-your-password-strength/783192/

I couldn't agree more. I hate passwords.

It annoys me too when I haven’t used a certain company for a while. When it comes to inserting the password I’m told it doesnt recognise it. So I click on the forgotten password, go through the rigmarole of making up another one, ticking the motorbikes in the 12 photos and using it again only to be told they don’t match, when I can see they do. I tried to book a blood test at my local clinic online. Same again. I ended up ringing and booking with a human. Isn’t technology wonderful.

I recently had Norton security put on to my laptop and carefully put all my passwords on to it. Then read that Norton could be hacked so started deleting them. Next day tried to continue to delete but unable to find relevant page so couldn't do it, tried every damn icon etc on the startup page and just couldn't find the same place so some are still sitting there. Thank goodness I didn't destroy my hardcopy list!

I have saved passwords in an email to myself but not posted. So it is in 'Drafts' and can be updated anytime. But lately I have adopted a small alphabetical book and will use that as the main storage. But the really important ones such as banking access are stored in neither but in a notebook with other details and disguised with * where only I would know the actual word/letter. The small book was supposed to be for telephone numbers but it has been unused for years now!

My husband is the spreadsheet king and has one for everything under the sun so obviously all passwords are stored in a specific sheet with a master password to get into it - unfortunately I can never remember his master word!

I use the 1Password program which works fine for me but agree the whole password protection issues are a nightmare at times especially if you're on a different device and try to log into something you've not used in a while so end up changing it then forget to update the main one so end up doing it yet again!!

I have seen a bespoke password book I've been tempted to buy but then it would take forever to fill in and then I'd probably forget where I'd put it

OnePassword is an excellent program you can download. I share mine with my OH who has his own section with his own password to it as do I and we also have a shared section. Thus we only ever have to remember one password,

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I have learnt from what people have said - thank you! I think I just have to relax when passwords look like a challenge, and keep going. I find that the finger print thing is really helpful as is facial recognition - good that the techie people are working on it. I must tidy up my written record of passwords - and I am reassured that others do the same, also at the reflection that a burglar is not going to waste time searching for my list of passwords. Writing passwords down is essential as I use a variety of them and could not possibly remember them all.

When writing passwords down, you have to be sure to be accurate. I'm not sure everyone realises that typing 0 (zero) and O (upper case 'oh') as part of a password sends 'different signals' to a website as do - and _. They often look the same when written down. If you include l (letter, lower case 'el') and 1 (number one) you will find that even typed, these are easily confused. Be aware that all upper and lower case letters, numbers, special characters and spaces each send a unique 'signal'.

Not understanding the way that individual characters in passwords are transmitted leads to the problem of writing passwords down then misinterpreting what you have written and finding your password is incorrect when you try to use it.

Strategic bump for t***l avoidance.

I have them written down but write the first few letters ........ then the last few letters.
It drives me crazy though, even when you use a fingerprint you have to keep renewing it for some reason.

Galaxy

I am excellent at this sort of thing.
When they first introduced paying by card, a shop assistant said to me your pin? meaning put your pin in the machine, I confidently lent over and whispered my pin to her.
As you can imagine my password management is absolutely useless.

😂

I have cryptic clues saved on my phone, so things like PB = Angry Dno

Can anyone solve that? I hope not, but will change it if so.