Katie Couric's Notebook: Passwords

By: Katie Couric
Topics: Katie Couric's Notebook

I bet this happens to you, too. You log onto your bank account to pay a bill and get a message that your password's expired.

Sure, it's annoying, but it only takes a minute - plus picking a new password makes your information safer, right?

Well, maybe not.

According to a study by Microsoft researcher Cormac Herley, changing your password every few months is usually just a waste of time. He argues anyone who steals it will use it right away. So, changing it later is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

Instead, Herley suggests you follow the advice we've heard for years. Pick a password that's hard for someone else to guess. If you go with something common like "ABC123" or the word "password" ... you're just handing hackers a digital key.

Just make sure it's something you can remember. Otherwise by the time you finally memorize it - someone's going to make you change it.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

5 Comments +

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by petersemkiw April 27, 2010 12:40 AM EDT: Where is Regis and his "Password" when you need him?; Reply to this comment


by goodpassword April 26, 2010 9:29 PM EDT: Hi,

Many people are using password generators to create passwords.

Below are my comments about my web site goodpassword.com which is
a subscriber service to password generation.

Its important to create strong passwords but its also important how the passwords are created.

At goodpassword.com there are 2 password generators one for random passwords and another
for an acronym password created from first character of each word in an easy to remember
phrase but uncommon.

The random generator is seeded by a true random set of numbers generated by the noise
of radio waves. So its not just what the password looks like but how the password is
started. After a brief time we destroy the state of the password sequence so that there is
no record has to how the password was created. To help memorize these random sets of characters
we have whats called the typewriter password where the characters are generated from alternating
sides of the keyboard.

The second password generator, the acronym password or what we call the leet password is built from the
first character of each word of a phrase of words. Some of the characters are replaced by other characters
that look are sound the same. For example: My wonderful dog Goldie is eight years old is first
converted to an acronym: mwdgiey then some of the character are replaced by similar looking or sounding
characters: mwd913yo where g is replace by 9, i is replaced by 1 and e is replaced by 3. These are called
leet characters. Further the upper and lower case is randomly selected ending with MWD913yo
This is easy to remember because of the phrase of words but it must by only known to you.

David J.; Reply to this comment


by gonroku April 26, 2010 8:41 PM EDT: Thank you for your advise!; Reply to this comment


by kenhamlett April 26, 2010 8:24 PM EDT: That makes sense and AlwaysSmiling provided some great advice.
Now we have to remember to follow the good advice.; Reply to this comment


by AlwaysSmiling April 26, 2010 8:04 PM EDT: Some MINIMUM standards for your password are these:

1. A minimum of 8 characters (unless the system will only allow fewer).
2. A combination of Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols (#*%**&<,/) (if they are accepted by the system).
3. Do not use common words or phrases (eg. Password, snoopy, spongebob, etc).
4. Do not use anything that's known about you (in other words, don't use your dog's name, if you blog about the puppy).
5. If you have to answer secret questions, do not use answers that are known about you (see #4) and "munge" the answers. In other words, substitute 3's for e's, 4's for h's or a's &'s for N's, etc. Just make sure you remember the answers and substitutions.

You can also check out applications like KeyPass, LastPass, PW-Safe or Roboform. These are designed to provide you with a password vault to control all of your passwords (requiring you to remember only one password and creating complex passwords at the same time).

Have a great day:)
Patrick.; Reply to this comment

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