A desperate time called for a desperate measure: I
typed in 1 2 3 4.
Even now I’m not certain if they were tears of rage or relief that shimmied down my cheeks as I read the message in front of me: Incorrect password.
They may have been tears of relief because in that moment I received confirmation that I had not been so lazy and naive as to use what experts call one of the dumbest and least secure passwords imagined.
They may have been tears of rage because the validation confirmed that I still did not have the correct password for my email address — which serves as a password recovery hub — and that I would have to continue guessing my passwords.
0 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 5
A B C D
a b c d
password
PASSWORD
Password
AAAAUUUUUGHHHH!
None of them worked.
I was thrust into this technological security whirlpool the day after I received a notice from one of my social media accounts that they recommended changing my password because of a possible security breach. Dutifully I did. Predictably I forgot the new password the next day.
In an effort to reset the account’s security parameters I was directed to my email, where I would receive directions for resetting.
The problem, of course, is that I had reset my email password a week or so before and had forgotten that string of digits and symbols.
Initially the annoyance was minor as I typed in passwords that I remembered creating over the years. They were significantly more complex than the simple 1 2 3 4 combinations I would desperately try later. But I was confident eventually one of them would work and I would get back into my email and from there reset my social media. The confidence weakened with each failed attempt.
The confidence shattered and disappeared once my email provider decided I tried one too many times to get into my account and suspended attempts until the next day. After hours of typing in letters, numbers, phrases and symbols I was put on a forced time out.
Panic set in when I thought that I might never get access to my email again. It’s in email that I receive notices and reminders from creditors, lenders, merchants and medical staff. It’s the email that I have designated as the starting point for resetting and reviewing all of my other passwords in the other accounts that require strategic access. If I couldn’t get into my email I was virtually locked out of every important relationship I had outside of family.
The next day I finally remembered the password I needed to reset the other passwords. Eager to not go though this again I wrote all the passwords down on a sheet of paper.
A week later and I do not know what I did with that paper. I am doomed.
I am old can’t remember these passwords
I left a comment to you
Use a Password Manager app. There’s many of them. Here’s a CNET review of the best ones. https://www.cnet.com/news/the-best-password-managers-directory/
Thanks! I gave it some thought and briefly researched/asked around. My fear(s) is having that one hub hacked and all of my passwords vulnerable or losing access to the password manager by forgetting the password. But maybe I should give it more research.