Study: Frequent password changes are useless

Re:Study: Frequent password changes are useless by robobenjie on Tuesday April 20, 2010 @08:19PM (#1281005)

"writing them on sticky notes attached to their monitor, about the worst possible computer security behavior you can undertake."

Really? The way I understood it, if a person has physical access to your machine it is game over. How often does a would be hacker come wandering past your cube? Maybe I'm missing something but I keep all my passwords in a little book in my home, and feel pretty safe from hackers. I suppose a thief could break in and get them but why not just take my physical stuff then?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Study: Frequent password changes are useless by daemin on Wednesday April 21, 2010 @05:59PM (#1283329)

The other difference is that the password on the sticky note is not actually for the computer, but is used to access network resources which probably are a more tempting target for someone to get at. So even though they have physical access to your machine, they will still need to get the password to access the resources on the network.

Still regardless having the password there on the monitor is an utter failure.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Study: Frequent password changes are useless by bluesmoon on Wednesday April 21, 2010 @08:57PM (#1283720)

you get a random person tailgate you into your office building, and then they just walk around from cube to cube looking for passwords on postit notes, note them down and walk away. They can't just pick up the hardware, both because it's locked down, and also that looks really suspicious.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Study: Frequent password changes are useless by Qz on Tuesday April 20, 2010 @08:31PM (#1281029)

There is a huge difference between sticky notes on a monitor and a book kept in your home.

[ Parent | on HN ]