On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 10:27 AM, Barry MacKichan <
[email protected]> wrote:

> I'll provide a data point, FWIW.
>

This is great, thanks.


> We are moving our companies' servers to Amazon, and generally we have only
> the ssh port open in addition to any public-facing ports necessary for that
> particular machine, such as http and https. All ssh authentication is done
> by public keys. I have passphrases on any private keys that are on machines
> that I take out of the office -- my iPhone and iPad and laptop.
>

I'm using pub key crypto for my hosting service and my home "server" .. mac
mini.  My pass phrase is in italian but not very long.


> I love 1Password. I have about 208 passwords stored in it. There's no way
> I could remember a fraction of them, so this is what makes having a
> separate password for every site possible. The 1Password database is
> encrypted and on Dropbox, so all my devices and PCs share the same database.
>

1P is the manager I chose too, and also with DB.  DB is offering 2-factor
so I may try it but 1P warns of some difficulties.


> I also have a handful of "rememberable" passwords for my laptop login, my
> Apple  ID, and my DropBox password.
>

OK, so you mix 1P generated pws along with your own?  Interesting idea ..
that may be good for banks, cards etc.


> There was a famous hack last summer where a hacker got control of a
> person's iCloud mail account.
>

Mat Honan's amazing story, yeah.  I included two links in earlier mail and
was amazed at his after-story: meeting Paranoid and becoming expert enough
that for $4 he could steal any ones ID and wreak their digital world.
 Interesting that he placed a LOT of emphasis on backup strategies.

Once he had that, he was able to change passwords on a number of other
> accounts by using the "Forgot password?" links. Then he remotely wiped the
> user's laptop, phone, and iPad. The moral there was that the Dropbox
> account, holding the remaining copy of the 1Password database, needs to be
> accessible without 1Password.
>
> One of my employees has a program that will generate memorizable 11
> character passwords; it knows enough about word structure that it makes
> nonsense words that can be pronounced. Very useful.
>

That sounds interesting.  Do you remember its name?  Possibly the black
hats have incorporated a heuristic for that too.


> My one password to open 1Password is memorized, 27 characters long, and
> generated by the "roll 6 dice, map the result to a word from this
> dictionary, and repeat 5 times" algorithm.
>

That's a lot of typing!  Even on a phone?


> --B
>
>
> On Jan 29, 2013, at 9:26 AM, Owen Densmore wrote:
>
> I realize password managers (keepass, 1password, ..) can generate
> gibberish passwords, any length you'd like.  But it'd be nice to be
> able to remember them yourself.  Besides, password managers don't work
> everywhere in these days of the "app" because they are browser
> centric.
>
>
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