Passwords...

So I was talking to a chum on the phone today about a tech support issue when he mentioned how he liked the blog, but I never posted anymore.

That got me thinking about how I used to keep a list of things to post and was diligent in doing it. Bolstered by his kind words I looked through the past and remembered all the happy modern life whinging I used to do.

I though I would add to the post count but then came across an issue - I couldn't remember the password....

Maybe I am getting old, but I find it really hard to remember a lot of things like password when you are forced to vary them to suit some security model. Must have a number, must have a non numeric character...

I used to use the same password everywhere and this worked well as I could remember it, but now our work systems auto expire the password every month and you need to choose a new password. But it can't be anything you have used before. Or the previous 5 passwords. So you end up making up something that you then have to write on a post-it and stick to the wall so you don't forget it !

Is that really making our life more secure ??