Road Map to Password Success

Budeweit Successive Passwords

I have been thinking about this since the early days of the internet and have thusly developed a pattern of passwords that follow a consistent series of small changes to the original password. In the case of something happening to me and people needing to access my passwords, this is my system I’ve kept to in order to facilitate others accessing my internet destinations.

Here is an example of the first password for internet access fields.

 ‘heroic’

When something happens that requires us to change our passwords, I follow this pattern. The next change I do is add a number that is significant to my life. So ‘heroic’ becomes ‘heroic11’.

 ‘heroic11’

The next change is to capitalize the first letter ‘Heroic’.

 ‘Heroic’

The fourth change alters the number at the end to using the punctuation that is the alternate setting for the number keys. Thus, ‘Heroic’ becomes ‘Heroic!!’ .

‘Heroic!!

Thinking about the 5^th option that will optimistically be required, I will start using the number 0- 10 series of numbers at the beginning of the current password. ‘Heroic!!’ becomes ‘0Heroic!!’   develop your own series of password alterations.

‘0Heroic!!’

I find that having a lot of random passwords in a lot of random places is as futile as trying to keep all your passwords in a central place. Inevitably, you come to need your password when you are nowhere near the resource that is keeping track of it. If you have a process that you stick to like this, you know that there are 4 options to follow and the access to whatever you’re doing is going to be one of them.

Sometimes time is a clue too.  Ask yourself how long you’ve been using that particular site, as sites you are accessing that have a longer history with you are likely to be requiring one of the subsequent options.

I am going to tuck a hard copy of this somewhere to keep with my will so that in the case of my death, there will be a way for those who come to help finish my loose ends to access necessary sites.

Tina's System Pattern for Passwords

1) heroic
2) Heroic
3) Heroic11
4) Heroic!!
5) 0Heroic!!

Use the Budeweit Successive Password system as a way to develop your own series of password alterations. Keep a hard copy with your will/insurance/important paperwork for next of kin and business partners. Call it 'Tina's Password System' if that's easier for you. Or just forget what it's called and let the system keep your life simple. It's in keeping with the KIS principle. 

(Keep It Simple)

Tina Budeweit Copyrightfree 2011