What's in a Password?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. - William Shakespeare

 

2020 is coming to end almost all of us are fed up of this year. Many lost jobs, some are forced to take unpaid leave, not many movies to watch, theatres closed, travelling is a risky business, being foodie is tough task and so on. Coming to good news, this global pandemic made us realize we are lucky than many people. Instead of focusing on what to do next, we started to list what we have and be thankful for it. Surprisingly, many of my friends getting married are both good and bad news. Jokes aside, 2020 happened to be one crazy year. Coming to topic, Cyber Security is still an important issue that needs to be addressed. Despite of Lockdown, Unlock and few other things, cyber security awareness is still a myth among many people around us. The fact that many more people to fell to OTP SCAM this year compared to previous year firmly indicates that we need to be stay alert and cautious about our security and privacy issues.

 

May 7 is celebrated as World Password Day. It came along to provide a warning to the world, and to spread awareness that taking care of your passwords is vital to protecting yourself. It is very important to keep passwords safe, secure, change it constantly and last but not least, not to share with anyone. That being said, I asked my friends, what's their password? I mean, I'm no hacker, I don't wanna read love letters they've saved in their draft. It's just common curiosity on what's in their password? Jai Hanuman, Virat Kohli, Love You Tamanna etc. And their responses were pretty awesome. Here are top three answers:

1. Ning yaake beku adu? (In legendary Ambi voice) (Translation: Why do you need that?)

2. Magaa, send me ₹2000/- (I asked him what's in his password, he asked me ₹2000/- to shut me up. Foolproof plan, try it.)

3. I don't know it was long time ago; maybe it's Aishwarya, my college junior.

So, that's it, that's where we are today. I know it's wrong and unethical to ask people's passwords. But this was for educational purpose; does that cut off my sin? It's tomorrow's problem, let's deal with it tomorrow. Coming to today, password updating and creating strong password is like Vitamin D, it's important and necessary. Random Survey on international website HEALTH IT posted an article about the list of The Usual Passwords. Here are most frequently used passwords, I don't know about others, but I'm pretty sure 19th password belongs to Monica Geller, I know:

123456	12345678	abc123	654321	princess
123456789	12345	qwerty123	555555	dragon
qwerty	iloveyou	1q2w3e4r	lovely	password1
password	111111	Admin	7777777	123qwe
1234567	123123	Qwertyuiop	888888	666666

 

If your password matches or comes close to any passwords mentioned above, kindly change it. Here are few tips to consider while changing it:

 

The Usual Suspects:

One capital letter, one small letter, one number and a symbol are the usual suspects I mean usual pillars of a strong password. Your password must have these four guys.

 

Like toothbrush:

Yes, password is like a toothbrush, change it periodically and don't share it with anyone.

 

Radhika Apte and Netflix:

That one time it became a internet joke about Netflix shows featuring Radhika Apte more often. I mean she's talented actress, aa maatu bere. But please don't use the same password everywhere. I know it's hard to track which password is for which website, bit constantly using them will help you remember it.

 

For Your Eyes Only:

For safekeeping of books, ledgers, ATM Cards, e-mail account, don't write your passwords anywhere. It'll be hard to remember all of them at first, but once you get used to it, there's no going back. Sad news for Time Travellers.

 

Passwords are for Kids:

Sometimes strong password is not enough. Consider the password Hanuman@12 - One would think it's a strong password because it has capital letter, small letter, number and symbol. But sometimes even that is not enough, if one figure out the keyword, your password is weak.

 

Passphrase, the Superhero we deserve:

As I said, sometimes, passwords aren't enough. So, using passphrase is better idea. Consider MVEM@JSUNP9. No one would remember this password and can't guess it, but it'll be easy for you to enter. The explanation is Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto. @ symbol after 4 planets represents asteroid belt and 9 number at the end indicates 9 planets.

 

And Then There Were None:

Sometimes life is like The Truman Show, someone's always watching us or should I say it's like being in Big Boss home, according to nativity. Be careful while entering your password, make sure no one is around it and cover your hands while typing just in case if you're in CCTV recording area.

That being said, Wish you Happy New Year 2021. Hope this New Year brings love, peace and constant urge to change passwords frequently. Jokes aside, wish you happy and prosperous New Year, have a safe and peaceful one. Privacy is like a lucky penny, it should be protected at all costs. Because, you know, A penny saved is a penny earned. Was I talking about The Big Bang Theory actress Kaley Cuoco here? You'll never know!