Password Hell

Passwords are a pain in the ass. Everyone hates them. They're unfortunately still a necessary evil. Mat Honan had his life turned upside down by a hacker a few months back.

He's back with a post to tell us about what's so wrong with the password system of today. Reading the details could be enough to make you give up trying to have good passwords at all. Resist the temptation and do the opposite.

Strengthen the passwords most important to you. It also seems like a really good idea to set up an email address just for use as the contact email you provide to companies. Lastly, I'm answering all future security questions by making shit up. I'll record the answers for these particular sites.

Once again, 1Password could be your best friend.

Hat tip to Jason Kottke

No More Passwords?

Ben Brown has floated some very interesting thoughts on the current password problem faced by most users. It turns out many people never remember the password to the various websites​ they access. Many simply use the password recovery option each time they visit. Ben takes the time to lay out an option that would eliminate the need for passwords.

As a geek, I'd like the option to continue using passwords because I'm addicted to 1Password. But I think this idea has a lot of merit for the 99% of users who've never even heard of 1Password and use lousy passwords.​

Hat tip to Marco.​

Shutdown Requires Pin

Great security idea from Cabel Sasser via Twitter. Apple needs to do this with the next software update.

Hat tip to Shawn Blanc.