Description

It happens to all of us. We sign up for an account at some website and they want us to come up with a password. The easy way out is to use the same password for every site. BUT, if someone ever figured that out this master password, we would be toast!Security experts tell us to use a different password for every site, but how can anyone remember them? Do we write them down in some secret book, or worse on a sticky note? In this video, Eric Spellmann gives you a simple strategy that allows you to come up with hundreds of different passwords that you can easily remember (without having to write them down).

So, what are you waiting for? Click that play button and sleep easier tonight!

Transcript

Note from Eric: Below, you will find a word-for-word transcript of this video. I provide this as an aid for the hearing-impaired and for those who might just want to read it rather than watch the video. This conversational style is not reflective of how I write. Be nice! Hey I’m Eric Spellmann with Spellmann and Associates. And today’s topic is an important one. How to easily remember 100 different passwords. Now, why would you even have 100 different passwords? Because if you’ll only have one, someone finds out, you’re toast!

But a lot of people say I can’t come up with a million different ones because how would I ever remember them! Well that’s what this video is about. So keep watching.

What’s the big deal about passwords? Basically, hackers use brute force a lot of times. Today’s computers are fast enough to where people can run millions of passwords against your account just to see if they work.

And a lot of times a hacker will run an entire dictionary against your account. Hackers also use social trickery. They will either call and pretend to be your bank or they’ll email and pretend to be financial institution or your Credit Card company or who knows what!

And simply ask you to verify your password or your Pin Number or whatever it is, trying to convince you to give it to them. So if someone gets one of your passwords and you use that same password for everything, you’re toast!

Hackers also dumpster-dive. You can’t write down passwords. A lot of times people will write them down on sticky notes and then eventually throw them away. Hackers know that. They’re always looking for those sticky notes. They’re always looking for numbers written on a piece of paper. And they will use it to try to hack into your account.

So what are the password rules? Number 1, don’t ever use a dictionary word. And in fact, most websites won’t allow you to use a password that just has letters in it. They will try to make it more complicated by adding some numbers or punctuation or something.

So never have an actual real word and also never have just letters of the alphabet. Add numbers and punctuation.

Use different passwords for different sites! I can’t say this enough. You do not want a single point of failure.

Don’t write them down. Just don’t do it. Some of you will say “Eric I’ve got this little black book and it has all my passwords in it but no one will ever get it!” NO! Don’t do it. Unless you’re gonna keep that book in a safe somewhere and only 1 other person you truly trust has the combination, then don’t do it.

Anyone who breaks into your house if they know where that black book is, they will get it. And chances are that little black book is on your computer. That little list is somewhere around your computer for when you forget your password.

Hackers know that, criminals know that! When they break into your house, a lot of times they won’t steal the stereo, they’re looking for your passwords!

So, what’s the step? How do we do this? Step number 1, select a route. In order for you to remember all your passwords, there must be a common route. Not the whole password, but a piece of it that is always the same.

One of my favorite things to do, pick a famous quote to come up with this route, Like “Mary had a little lamb.” All of us know that phrase. You will never forget that phrase. You’ll always remember it, or it could be a Bible verse or it could be something else, a quote that you will never forget word for word.

Then take the first letter of each word. So M H A L L for “Mary had a little lamb”. I simply take the first letter of each word and boom, that becomes the route.

Now, the cool thing about these kind of passwords is if I ever forget of my password, all I have to do is think of it in my head as I type. “Mary had a little lamb.” And type the first letter of each word and I’m good, I will never ever forget that route.

Add a number you won’t forget. It’s got to be a number that’s important to you. Somewhere on there, at the beginning, at the end, somewhere. So in this case I just randomly chose 54. But that would need to be a number that I would never forget, if this was gonna be one of my real passwords.

So far I actually have a pretty decent password. “mhall54”. Now notice the length of it too. Its 7 letters long. Most passwords are required to be anywhere from 6-8 at minimum. So keep that in mind when you come up with your quote.

I mean if you’re gonna go for a long one like “into the valley of death road the 500”, you know then that will be a nice long route for you, come up with a quote that’s gonna be long enough to generate when it’s all said and done, at least 6-8 letters.

So step number two, you’ve got this root, like “mhall54”. Every one of my passwords will contain that. And I can remember “mhall” from “Mary had a little lamb” and 54 because well it’s an important number to me.

Start with your root word “mhall54”. Capitalize one letter, or two if you want. But you’ve got to remember it. Maybe the second letter so the H! Keep in mind that with passwords capitalization matters.

So a lower case h is different from an upper case H! So pick one, always have a mix of capitalization that is usually a requirement on a lot of websites. So I’m going with the H, I’m gonna make it a capital. And it will always be a capital every single time.

Make it unique. Now here is the secret sauce. Let’s say that I’m on Amazon. Okay. And so at the beginning of my Amazon password, I simply put a lower case “a”. On eBay I might put a lower case “e”.

You know on any site I go to, whatever the name of the company is (dot com), whatever the first letter of that name or the first letter of the address (not the www) but after that, I’ll put that letter either at the beginning, at the end or somewhere in there that’s always in the same place I will always know. And folks that is the key to making a 100 passwords you will never forget.

Trust me, it works. And that way if someone gets one of your passwords, it won’t work anywhere else, unless they figure out your pattern which is another thing.

Never let anyone know what your password pattern is. Because then they would be able to figure out every single password. So, you need a safer password for every account, it needs to be something that’s not a dictionary word and it needs to be something you can remember without writing it down.

I hope this was helpful. I’m Eric Spellmann with Spellmann & Associates; I’ll see you in cyberspace.