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Ask HN: How old is your oldest password?

I just had to change a password for another service, and access broke because I had trouble with my password manager. I had to hit "Forgot your password?"

Then I just opened up my laptop, entering the LUKS password for the disk. These passwords can't be changed without re-encrypting the disk, a huge pain.

I'm sure a good password would be able to last a while.

How old is the oldest password you're still using on a semi-regular basis?

( 9 comments | 5 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by didgetmaster on Thursday December 19, 2024 @12:19PM (#42463591)
It doesn't have to be a good password to last a long time. Security measures should be commensurate with the risk of loss.

Just like I don't put my spare change in a crack-proof safe; I hate it when websites require super secure passwords to access information that I wouldn't mind leaving on my desk for every passerby to see.

Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by overu589 on Thursday December 19, 2024 @09:34AM (#42461719)
For your question, I remember my first password from when I was ~13 and use it in jokey places, though my longest running password was twenty years, and that’s exclusively for local devices.

On the general topic, I’m a touch typist and terrible at remembering things though I discovered I could learn to reflexively type passwords I did not intellectually “know”.

These days I keep a password tab in my ever on person pocket journal (my persons is security ground zero) of ~18 character highly random strings which I rotate continuously. I find it takes me a couple of weeks to be able to use these passwords without looking (or “knowing” what they are.)

I use one for personal system login, and one for my local only password manager (no lost pass.) All else uniquely keyed within!

Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by theGeatZhopa on Thursday December 19, 2024 @09:18AM (#42461581)
> 15y. It should finish highschool soon.

Another password is >10y.

And then there are combinations and iterations of these two, that are also mature :)

Don't ask me, I won't tell you haha

Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by WinH on Thursday December 19, 2024 @09:23AM (#42461632)
Congrats, any plans for college following graduation :)
Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by satotiga on Thursday December 19, 2024 @10:07AM (#42462074)
I've recently been through as many of my active accounts as I could find and revamped the passwords after having used a variation of the same one in most places since 2012.

Before that, the oldest one I still remember is from 2006, so that's going on 18 years.

Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by runjake on Thursday December 19, 2024 @10:08AM (#42462085)
~40 years.

No, it’s not a word in any language.

Yes it’s been in several leaks and is in most password lists.

Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by throwaway519 on Friday December 20, 2024 @09:38AM (#42471414)
asdfghjkl
Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by solardev on Thursday December 19, 2024 @03:58PM (#42465640)
I still have my Hotmail email and password from the 90s, when Microsoft was still like what is this internet thing. It's what I still use to login to Windows. I never migrated to SkyLiveOneLook or whatever they call their email thing these days.
Re:Ask HN: How old is your oldest password? by 3000 on Thursday December 19, 2024 @06:07PM (#42466678)
about 28 years