Re: exploring the use of manual encryption of passwords (newbie)

From: Alex D (anon_at_anon.anon)
Date: 09/29/04 

Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 07:49:46 GMT

> I don't see why you need fancy encryption for that. Just write the
> words backwards or something. Also, it's simple enough to avoid
> pulling out the paper when someone is looking over your shoulder.
>
> > or even worse: forget or lose the piece of paper.
>
> Think of the paper as a $20 bill. You've probably carried $20 bills
> in your pocket any number of times. How often have you forgotten and
> lost one? Just exercise the same level of care with the piece of
> paper, and you shouldn't forget or lose it.

When I lose a 20$ bill, I lose 20$; when I lose my list of passwords, a lot of
(albeit personal) data is at risk. The piece of paper is worth far more than
the 200$ mentioned in the other post.

The problem is that it is generally known and advised over and over again that
you should *never* write down passwords on paper. That's OK if you have only
one password to remember, but a problem if you have 20-50 sites, each with
their password policy (making a single password impossible).

So it is nice to have some manual encryption scheme to protect pasword lists,
without the need of software to decrypt them.

-alex-

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