Ultra-secure computing
Posted on May 11, 2005
There has been a recent security kick at work where they are requiring people to change their login and email passowrds on a periodic basis. I know it’s a good idea, so I changed them. Then I thought it might be a good idea to change some of my personal passwords for Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. Godd idea, however…
Over the past few days, I’ve been having problems with my DSL. At first, two days ago, I didn’t think anything of it. I just used the time to read American Psycho. I figured maybe there was a temporary line problem or something. Yesterday, I was still having problems, but I was tired, so I ended up going to bed early (slept 10 hours, too). Today, I was still having problems, so I figured I’d better tackle it to see what’s up. It didn’t take me long to realize I forgot to reset the SBC/Yahoo password on my DSL modem. I guess the DSL modem stores it, then sends the login info when I try to make a connection. However, I had forgotten what I changed the password to.
When I tried to change the password it gave me a few errors. Normally, I use letters, numbers, and other characters in my passwords, however, Yahoo kept giving me errors because they don’t seem to like the other characters I was using. In the end (I think) I ended up just using an alphanumeric string. Since I was already logged in, it slipped my mind to try and remember it. I’m not a person to write my passwords on a sticky, but that was my downfall.
Today, I spent a long time trying passwords without success. I ended up going to Corner Coffee, using their computer to try and login – with no success – and then trying to reset my password – which DSL customers have to do over the phone. I got the telephone number, and went home to call it. I eventually succeeded, but I had a close call. The whole phone system is automated (nicely, I might add), but there was a section where it asked for a special code found on the phone bill. I have internet billing for my phone and DSL, so I haven’t seen an actual paper phone bill in months. Luckily I found one from last year, and I was able to finish up. The good thing was it reste the passowrd instantly, so I could login and change the passowrd to something I could remember.
Moral: either a) don’t forget your password, or b) don’t change your password.
P.S. Literary Masterpieces starts tomorrow!
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