Is this protection adequate?

The survey of popular passwords though only dates to 2015 so replacing “password2” with something better is still relevant today.

Click to expand...

I agree Rod, assuming one updates to using a better alpha-numeric-caps-lowercase password, besides a lot of places won't allow anything less.

But the advice to keep changing ones passwords fairly often makes no logical sense to me unless one's previous password had been breeched. Then of course change it. Otherwise, why bother.

Of course one could try using a password like a lady sent me some years ago when I was fixing her Mac, and she sent me this as her password to use: "••••••••". (no quotes)

She never seemed to have any problems using it. ;D




- Patrick
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Ha, ha!

Thanks all, I do appreciate the time and effort put in by members for no other reason than to help sort out my understanding.

Yes I had confused Root with Firmware, having read the various articles suggested.

(a) I think I'll stick to my original system, which is only to store my super-sensitive data (bank details, passwords, card numbers, and so on) on a flash drive, itself encrypted and with an internal encrypted folder (now that IS overkill!), which I remove from the machine and take with me whenever my Mac and I are parted.

My MacMini can easily be replaced if stolen, and I have my external weekly back-up to restore it.

(b) Complicated passwords: I tend to use first lines of either obscure quotes or 17th-century poems, reduced to initials, symbols, and the occasional 'real' word or odd capital, such as this quote from The Buddha:

"The one who has conquered himself is a far greater hero than he who has defeated a thousand times a thousand men."

which can easily be reduced to:

T1whCH1afghtHWhda1000timesa1000m.

Memorizing the password isn't a problem as I know the quote by heart.

You can do the same with songs, as long as you REALLY know them, and as long as they are reasonably obscure, i.e. not mainstream rock 'n' roll.


Allen.

Good for you Allen. I more or less do the same with my passwords, using phrases and various quotes that I know I won't forget.

Poems and song lyrics are a brilliant idea for sourcing password material. I imagine religious scripture would also provide a wealth of sources.

Yes, I like the Bible idea - or indeed any work that you know intimately, but be sure it’s also fairly obscure. (it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, etc., might well have found a place in the hacker’s list).