Introduction

A couple of years ago, I was preparing to speak in front of a group at a conference. As I set up for the presentation, attendees slowly filled the room. I connected my laptop computer to the projector screen and logged in. This was my travel laptop. I password-protected my screensaver and set it to activate after just a few minutes of inactivity. And, of course, I had a very strong password.

As I set up, the screensaver activated several times, and each time I had to enter the password. As the audience filled, I started noticing occasional chuckles out in the audience that seemed to increase in volume each time. It took me a while, but I finally made the connection they laughed each time I logged in to my laptop. My password at the time was 63 characters long. Apparently, they found that amusing.

But, if you know me, you know that I always use long passwords. Some people think I m overly paranoid. Some people don t see how I can memorize passwords that long. However, using long passwords is the single most effective strategy in keeping your passwords secure. It is, in fact, so important that it can even make up for failing to follow any other password policy.

And they aren t that hard to remember.