Mac Forum Forced Password Change?

[MacInWin]

Heh! My password for here rates 11 billion trillion years to crack. I think that qualifies as "strong."

 

[MacInWin]

Out of interest - is any member here arectually accessing any website (other than this one) where a regular password change is mandated?

I visit one, but it is a government site that has had a very strange password policy for many years. Things like a randomly generated keyboard screen where you had to click out your password, a requirement to change passwords on each visit before they would log you out, and now a requirement to change your password every 30 days.

Frankly, a much better approach to passwords might be to do testing on any passwords that are nominated for an account before allowing them to be used. If they are not strong, by whatever definition the board chooses, then they are rejected. Then the password need never expire, unless the site itself is hacked, in which case every user would have to create a new password (but that is the case today anyway).

 

[Rod]

Ferrari, this is the only site, and I have more than 200 subscribed sites, that mandates a regular change. I do change my passwords regularly though. My password manager does a regular scan via Watchtower re the "Have You Been Pwned" site and gives me a list of compromised logins which I then change. My password for this site, according to the link krs provided would take 11 centuries to crack.


Sent from my iPhone using Mac-Forums

 

[krs]

My password for this site, according to the link krs provided would take 11 centuries to crack.

Nick actually provided the link, not me.

But does it really matter if it takes 11 centuries or 11days to crack a password?
The few sites, primarily financial, where I enter my password manually, give me three or five tries. If I still get it wrong, they lock me out for a period of 15 minutes to an hour (depending on the site) before I can try again.
By that time I have figured out what the password is and I log in, so I don't know what happens after another three (or five) tries. I'm sure they don't let you continue doing this for any length of time.

When people complain that their log in credentials were "hacked" - if one checks the details, they weren't really 'hacked' in the way we are discussing here - the user gave this information away to some smart 'bad gut' who used social engineering tools to get that information.

 

[sllewk]

Hi, Whilst our Admin Members defend the "120 days" rule I, like a number of others, have found it to be NOTHING SHORT of being a pain in the armpit! So much so I now never actually log out. That way I only have to be bothered with it every 120 days - it will, it won't - it can, it can't - it might, it might not, nothing about it is certain here except refusal most of the time. OK ,here you can do your bit and defend the ruling; I have nothing secret on this web page at all; everybody knows I am an old fart, so who cares about DOB - not me too long in the tooth to be bothered who knows I am 85 YEARS OLD. Long live the Admin guys, they do an excellent job and that is not flattery - simply pure fact.

very best regards from Keith in Derby England.

 

[Rod]

I’m with you Keith. I never log out of anything really.

 

[IWT]

everybody knows I am an old fart

Oh No, Keith. You're not that old

Ian

 

[sllewk]

Ian, Oh yes I am! Very pleased that I am - I am on my way out thank goodness, would not like to be a youngster today as it is a horrible vicious world to be growing up into! I can remember the days of my early youth and being able to play outside without fear of being molested. That is apart from a "clip round the ears" by a policeman if seen doing wrong, and I dare not tell my dad for fear of a sore rear end then off to bed. It did not matter what time of day, if I were sent to bed there was nothing to eat until the next day. Believe me it never did me any harm at all. My present age proves that!

Very best regards from Keith in England.

 

[Rod]

Yes, I had an “in house joke” with my father where I would say he was an annoying old b.....d and her would reply, “hey, enough with the old”.

 

[pigoo3]

I am on my way out thank goodness, would not like to be a youngster today as it is a horrible vicious world to be growing up into!

While this is off-topic for this thread...I had to comment.

What is mentioned here is an unending generational cycle ...where older generations think the world is going down the tubes...and they may feel badly for the younger generations growing up in such a world.

In this case Keith is 85 years old...making his birth year 1934...and lives in the UK. Now for discussion's sake...let's call a "youngster" someone who's 10 years old.

When Keith was 10 years old it was 1944...1944 was approximately the 5th year of World War 2...Hitler had Western Europe, Eastern Europe, a large portion of Russia, and Northern Africa all torn up from a needless war (not to mention a lot more things)....and London & the UK had seen more than it's fair share of war-based troubles.

I'm sure there was at least one 85 year old man from the UK in 1944 saying much the same thing as Keith just mentioned..."I am on my way out thank goodness, would not like to be a youngster today as it is a horrible vicious world to be growing up into!"

For 100's of years before this...85 year old men have been saying this. And for 100's of years into the future...85 year old men will continue to say this. It's an endless cycle that's probably been going on for 100's or 1000's of years...it will continue...and guess what...we're all still here...and for the most part...doing just fine.

The average person on the planet has never had it so good (fewer working hours, access to good food, a roof over their head, access to education, access to medical care, etc.).

- Nick

p.s. Of course it's not just 85 year old men saying this.....it's also:

- 75 year old men & women
- 65 year old men & women
- 55 year old men & women
- 45 year old men & women
- Maybe some 35 year old men & women
- 25 year old men & women having too much fun!

 

[pine man]

Just fallen foul of the latest 'forced password change' and must have got something wrong initially as I was locked out for 15 minutes.

I have now got the site to accept my new password and ticked the 'remember' box BUT everytime I close my browser, not log out, I have to Log back in when I return to Mac Forums site. Is it just me?

Edit: I have checked the passwords recorded in Firefox and Keychain and all are correct and it is only after I quit Firefox that i have to log back into Mac Forums. No other sites display this problem.
Edit again: No problems with Safari opening Mac Forums without the need to keep logging in.

 

[krs]

It's not just you but because this 'forced password change' only happens once every four months after member's last password change, it seems that it is not very common.
The problem also seems to depend on which browser one is using, some people seem to have no problems - I had the problem with Firefox.
Which browser are you using?

I eventually resolved my problem with Firefox by deleting some files based on a suggestion by Patrick.
Have not had a problem since, but we also never really figured out what caused the problem - took a long time to get that resolved.

If you are using Firefox, you can try doing a search on the forum that should bring up what Patrick suggested and what I actually finally did to resolve this.

 

[pine man]

Thanks for that and, yes, I am using Firefox.

I'll check back to see how Patrick resolved it.

 

[krs]

I just took a quick look through this thread - didn't see the "fix" for Firefox.

I think that was covered in a different thread - maybe Patrick remembers where.

 

[pine man]

Yes, I've been searching with no result.

 

[pine man]

I have tried removing the MacForums details from Key Chain, and the Firefox Saved Passwords, and input them again. No joy.

I would like to use Safari as my browser but there isn't a version for my PC so I use Firefox that can synchronise across iphones, iPads, iMac and PC.

 

[pine man]

I hate to have to say this BUT this problem only occurs on my iMac and NOT my PC

 

[krs]

Take a look in this thread
https://www.mac-forums.com/forums/c...emember-login.html?highlight=password+problem

Around Post #67

That resolved the problem for me

 

[pm-r]

I just took a quick look through this thread - didn't see the "fix" for Firefox.

I think that was covered in a different thread - maybe Patrick remembers where.

I'm sorry I can't remember the exact details for a possible fix or where I posted them but I do remember I came across some that I posted looking to resolve the same problem I was having but with using Chrome, and it not doing an auto log-in with the new password.

Personally, I think the problem is with the site's version or settings in the vBulletin application it is using and between some browsers. I finally got the auto log-in to work properly when using Chrome by changing my password back to the original one I had in the first place, but it took a day or two to allow the changes to be made and to start working again properly.

That last part in bold seems to be fairly critical as to how things work properly or not. At least it seemed to be for me.

I'll have a look around when I have a minute to see what else I can find that may have anything to do with the problem and what I posted.


- Patrick
======

 

[pine man]

krs & pm-r

Thanks for your interest and advice.

I have tried a variety of things and failed miserably so far.

I'm now going to have a shower followed by a bottle of Pinot Grigio!

I'll try further tomorrow!!