Format for Passwords

Hopefully this is a good place to ask this question. I wasn't sure if it would be more appropriate here or in the BBQ forum.

Anyway, I am in the process of changing all of my passwords to really long random strings, and keeping track of them using a password manager program. I am wondering what kinds of characters can be used for a password on ATS. For example, letters, numbers, symbols, spaces, special characters, etc. Also, how many characters long can an ATS password be? I haven't had any luck searching on google, or with the ATS search feature.

a reply to: dave0davidson

Long random strings?

You can make long random string with only numbers and letters. You know, like "hfdg27jgcgjfdsqaae909fczswcbj2kmo1ki3ghopuyt876uut8ryjklk258" or something.

a reply to: swanne

Yes, exactly like that. Usually a website will only be able to accept them up to a certain length though. Like 16 characters or 24 or whatever. Also I'm wondering if characters like @#$ and stuff will work with ATS. Thank you.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: dave0davidson

Long random strings?

You can make long random string with only numbers and letters. You know, like "hfdg27jgcgjfdsqaae909fczswcbj2kmo1ki3ghopuyt876uut8ryjklk258" or something.

That's far to easy to remember, you must have symbols otherwise it's not very secret.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

There is a limited number of symbols available on every device. Plus, what tells you that eventual hackers cannot check for these symbols too?

The thing slowing hack is, I hear, not the spread of the passwords' characters but their actual lenght and randomness.

a reply to: dave0davidson

You'll have to check with a mod but I would guess that the accepted characters would only be alphanumeric characters, nothing else. And I would guess that the number of characters would be fairly small, too - the norm is 8 characters, but they give us auto passwords far smaller than that, so I doubt they put the bar very high.

a reply to: swanne

I was being ironic, the example you provided was random and lengthy enough, but thanks for taking the time to explain to others who can't see this either.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Oops, sorry - I did not realize you were being sarcastic. We need a sarcasm font! My bad mate.

a reply to: swanne

Yeah, I think there may be some kind of protocol in place, something like [sarc], maybe I should start using it?

Just my 2 cents:

Make a secure password manager using paper like:

www.labnol.org...

This is nice:

itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com /security-corner/create-perfect-passwords-on-paper/

And

www.passwordcard.org...

Not exactly what you've asked but i'd say viable option.

This is what I do to create passwords in varying lengths between 12 and 32 characters in length. While also applying special rules to passwords.

Pick three to four things you can always remember for just one password.

Such as: best friends phone number, his nickname, the car he drives, and the embarrassing moment he or she did.

Or: your favorite number, your pet's name, your favorite color, and your job title.

Or: important date, an important event or object, and a person's full name. Either fictional or historical.

But 1 in every 60 people stick to the following criteria: a sexual comment with their favorite year.

I have eaves dropped on quite a few people when it comes to pin numbers and password entries.

I have seen pin numbers such as 6969, 2006, 1964, 1942, and 1492 come up often. Passwords? Needhoes1, smokecherries, bikini69, thed2014, and even cherrysquirt come up. Hey don't curse at me. I would never have such easy to guess passwords like that. I have been hacking facebook profiles for years now. Stop putting in such stupid passwords that are sexual in its context.