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Hot take: your 'strong' password is probably still weak
I was helping my aunt set up her new laptop yesterday, and she proudly told me her password was 'Fluffy2024!' because it had a capital letter, numbers, and a symbol. I had to gently explain that's exactly the kind of password cracking software guesses first. It's a common word plus a common year pattern. The real kicker was when she said her bank made her use that format, so she thought it was safe. It made me realize how much bad advice is still out there. We need to move past these simple rules and tell people to use long, random passphrases or a password manager. Stuff like 'correct-horse-battery-staple' is way stronger than 'P@ssw0rd1'. Has anyone else had to undo this kind of well-meaning but wrong password thinking for family?
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spencer_hayes715mo ago
It's wild that banks still enforce those outdated rules. They're basically training people to create predictable patterns. What's a good way to convince an institution that their own password policy is the weak link? My credit union does the same thing, and trying to explain passphrases to their support just gets blank stares.
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lily_dixon275mo ago
Used to think those rules made sense until my own bank got hacked. Now I wonder why they don't just let us use proper passphrases?
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