Password - "Thingy Magigy"

I had to change a password on one of my Internet accounts this morning. I had to change it because I forgot it. Remember when all we had to remember was our social security number and the combination on our lockers?

I've been known to forget a password or two. As a privacy professional, I take the responsibility of protecting my identity very seriously. During lazier times I would have used the same password over and over again. But, my paranoia of identity theft has changed that. I take pride in creating strong passwords - combinations of lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and symbols. We shouldn't write them down for fear someone will find them and hack into our computers. What this process has done, is prevent ME from logging on.

A number of years ago when password protected programs began to blossom, my assistant had a direct line to the IT Help Desk; that was because Coralee forgot her password again! In those days I would use word association to create my double secret entry code. Sometimes it was the first thing I saw on my desk: stapler, a big mess, phone, file and "thingy magigy". Natalie would come in as she heard my usual profanity in the morning and attempt to identify objects on my desk that may have gotten my attention. I eventually learned that word association didn't work for me in this circumstance.

I knew better than to use dates. No birthdays or anniversaries for me. For awhile I used pet names. Then I started using combinations of pet names and telephone numbers (not mine of course). The telephone number thing got confusing because I couldn't remember whose phone number I used for what program. You see there was some word association coupled with the phone number.

When the security questions were implemented as protocol I was relieved; there was a back-up process to get me into the wonderful world of cyberspace. Initially all I had to remember was my mother's maiden name. When that became too common, we were given the option of creating numerous security questions. I thought this was such a good idea that I created different questions for each program: My favorite pet, my first pet, the street where I grew up, the high school I went to, my paternal grandmothers middle name, my best friend's name in elementary school. ..it got out of control.

Forgetting the password was one thing, but remembering which animal I thought was my favorite pet at the given moment when I created the answer was another. Was it RC? Was it Murphy? Was it Jen? Once on the phone with a help desk, they asked me the security question - what is your favorite pet? In desperation I began throwing out names - Surrey? Mr. Tom? O'Hara? Claude? Dostoevsky? Zachary? Finally, the gentlemen on the other end of the phone stopped me - just how many pets have you had? Oh, is that the answer? Do I need to know how many pets I had? He felt sorry for me. ..just tell me what kind of pets they were. Dogs, cats, ducks! One answer please. My favorite pet was "cat". He tried the second security question - what high school did you go to? Yeah, I knew that answer. Pathetic, I thought, how pathetic I must sound. He chuckled, "no problem, this is why I have a job!"

I thought I had the right system created for designating passwords. I created three. Three because you usually have three chances to log in before you get locked out. I thought this to be brilliant - I don't have to remember which password I designated for what program. And then it became apparent that those three were not secure enough for some programs and hence I've been locked out once again this morning.

Knock, Knock - what's the password? I dunno - yep, that's it!