Dan is a digital security freak. I cannot overemphasize the security measures he puts in place electronically to make sure our data is safe, backups, double, triple, quadruple backups, kept in different cities on various servers.
The most amazing though are his passwords. Dan loves beautiful rock-solid passwords. Passwords with letters don’t even qualify as passwords. Passwords with letters and numbers are for sissies, losers, amateurs and people who enjoy having their identity stolen. No. Dan’s passwords use letters, numbers and symbols in ways that are incomprehensible to me.
Sometimes when he sets me up for a new account of some kind, he’ll hand me a password that looks like this: g3Tg0!nG@NddAn$5
“How am I supposed to remember that?” I’ll ask incredulously because I know that writing it down on a sticky note next to the computer is not a viable option.
“It says ”˜get going and dance 5.’” Like, duh!
I nod and smile. Yeees. Yeees of course. The dancing. I’ll totally remember it now.
So we were in Costco the other day when Dan went to pay for the groceries with his debit card. I looked over as he entered his pin and my mouth dropped open in surprise.
“That’s seriously your PIN?! Really?!”
Time sort of froze.
Dan looked up embarrassed, an uneasy smile frozen on his face.
The cashier and the cart-loader tried unsuccessfully to stop their giggles.
And I just stared at him. “Really?!”
“What?” He asked sheepishly.
“Did they assign you that PIN or did you seriously come up with that yourself?! Honestly?”
Then I noticed the eyes watching us and I decided it would be best to talk to him later alone away from the giggling school girl Costco employees.
Outside, I started up again, “How could someone like you pick 7777 as his PIN NUMBER?!”
“That’s not my PIN,” he smiled sheepishly.
“I saw you do it.”
“No. I wiggle my fingers around to mask what I’m really typing when I enter my PIN. I can’t believe it actually worked. Awesome.”
Yes. Awesome indeed. Don’t you feel safer just reading the blog of someone whose husband is such a master of trickery and security? I wish I’d been right, though. He never would have lived that one down.
That is hilarious! I thought our password for things online was tricky, but you have clearly proved that ours is very unimpressive. And wow, he really wiggles his fingers around well enough to hide his actual pin? Not bad!
Oh man… don’t let Dan near me when I’m using my PIN. He would rake me over the coals.
However, I do have a great password that I use. And since it’s so odd, I can use it for several different accounts I love it when I am starting a new web account and they rate my password as “Awesome and Tight, baby!” Okay, it really says, “Excellent password security”, but I like my interpretation so much better.
That’s so weird that it’s hilarious! Very very funny!
I would seriously like to know how he wiggles his fingers around to mask what he is typing. That is a serious skill that I would like to develop
I love Dan. I’m so glad you married him and he gets to be my brother.
My husband is the exact same way, except we use password safes to remember all the crazy passwords because they are totally random and generated by the safe.
LOL! At least it wasn’t 6666! 🙂 Then I’d be uber worried!
His pin IS totally 7777 (or whatever it is he typed). He just told you that wiggling around thing to make himself look good. I’m guessing.
What an awesome awesome story. I’ve been giggling to myself all afternoon (and practicing wiggling my fingers while punching in my pin).
I do the same thing…make words using symbols, numbers, and letters. I got most of it just reading but got stuck on the dance part. Nice to know I’m not the only one out there! :0)
by Honey Daddy of Honey Mommy
For all you easy password people out there, here are some simple info and ways to make then both easy to remember and hard to beat.
Good passwords are much easier than you and your husband think. Longer makes then exponentially harder to crack ( number of characters^number of positions, number of letters is usually 70+) and the more letters/symbols/numbers you use the more complex it gets for someone else.
For easy reference make your password a short sentence (passWORD is deceiving, think pass-PHRASE).
1. Pick something simple that you (don’t) like or have/want (ie. ‘I like cats & dogs.’ ‘ I drive a BUS!’, ‘This bank site SUCKS!’ ) . You’ll always remember what you typed this way
2.USE PROPER PUNCTUATION and spacing, no one says you can’t (most of the time).(All those fancy substitutions just make it hard to type, don’t do a lot of security or your memory) Remember length does more than complexity, simple substitutions are okay just to add a little more complexity, but still make it memorable (something like: ‘I have 5 kids.’ is great)
3. Length limits are usually 256-512 characters (way more than I ever want to type in blind, multiple times a day, but more than most think is acceptable). 8-12 Characters (including spaces and punctuation) is plenty. The requirements are usually for a MINIMUM of 6-7 not MAXIMUM.
Coming up with new pass-words(er… -PHRASES) is easy, just don’t get stuck thinking like a minimalistic computer geek or overly complex nerd.
BONUS: You can actually tell someone else your passwords and due to our Great English language ambiguity they will have a really hard time coming up with what exactly you typed, But you’ll never forget (or at least be able to have some one jog your memory) what your password is.