Difficulty remembering your catalogue of passwords? You’re not alone!

Lost passwords are the biggest headache for IT helpdesks, according to a survey by
Diskeeper and research firm Vanson Bourne.

The survey showed 55% of 100 IT directors across the financial services, manufacturing and retail sectors cited lost passwords as the top cause for complaints to IT helpdesks.

The retail, distribution and transport sectors have the highest number of lost password complaints with 60% of IT directors citing the problem as the most common. Computer freezes and crashes were the biggest grievance for 60% of those surveyed in the financial services sector.

Nigel Stanley, practice leader in security at Bloor Research, believes passwords should be replaced with pass-phrases. "The key problem [for IT helpdesks] is the Monday morning reset menace. This is made worse by companies forcing resets every month or so on cycle. Some self-help password reset programmes are quite useful but the uptake isn't massive" he said.

Source: Computer Weekly

Tips for ensuring you never forget your passwords

Keep a top passwords list
Make a short list of the top 5-10 passwords that you need in case your computer crashes. These are the passwords which are crucial for you to remember. Keep the list in safe yet convenient place away from your computer, perhaps in your wallet. You should also make sure someone you trust—for example, your spouse, or a business partner—knows how to find this list. If anything happened to you, it might be necessary for a loved one or an associate to access your accounts.

Keep a copy online
Keep a copy of passwords on a secure location online. As long as you use the OS X keychain or 1Password files, your passwords are securely encrypted, so you can safely store them online without worrying that someone could get at them without your permission—as long as the password you used to secure your keychain is a good one!

Access Passwords from anywhere
1Password lets you export your data as an encrypted Web page. If you put this page in a location where you can access it online, you can get at all your passwords from anywhere in the world while still keeping them safely encrypted.

Avoid gibberish or bizarre character combinations
While character combinations such as “dfFe#*23” might be hard to guess, they are also difficult to remember. These passwords are less susceptible to brute-force attacks, but such activity will be combated in other ways, such as limits on incorrect logon attempts.

Don’t change the password too frequently
You are more likely to forget a password if you only use it for a short period of time. A good average for changing your passwords is 90 to 120 days.

Don’t use an excessively long password
Try not to use the entire alphabet or the preamble to the Constitution as a password. Depending on the system, some passwords have a maximum and minimum length. Pick something that you can easily remember and type.