Reverting to Paper when the going gets tough

[Kent Valentine]

You must have a...

....very lightweight safe to store your paperwork in. Does it fit nicely under airline seats? I don't think we are communicating.

You're absolutely correct: Obviously, the most secure thing to do is to keep everything locked up in a safe at home and to not leave. Most of us can't do that. I wasn't addressing a scenario where a person doesn't get further than 20 feet from their filing cabinet. In that scenario, I agree, locking everything in a safe is the way to go-- it's a brilliant solution.

If you travel a lot however, and you are on the road most of the time, you still need to pay bills, use credit cards, etc. while you are away from home-- and in that case, writing everything down on paper and locking it in a safe at home doesn't address the challenge.

The only point I was trying to make is that I have found that it is more secure to travel with passwords encrypted in a Palm, then walking around with a paper planner that contains a page with that data written in it.

Remember, NOTHING is foolproof. Glad to hear locking all of your data in a file cabinet works for you-- that is a simple, elegant solution.

That's it.

Kent

 

[Brent]

Ah-ha! I didn't get the portable aspect of your solution, Keith. Thanks for clearing that up. Totally agreed there.

 

[sdann]

Keeping passwords in electronic encrypted format is something I've always grappled with, but I think I want to start doing that. When I'm out of the office for meetings, I always want to have my eye/hand on my organizer which, as you may have guessed, stores my passwords. I think my passwords listing are what I use the most in my life. What sites or software do people really trust? (Should I open a new thread?)

 

[jknecht]

Keeping passwords in electronic encrypted format is something I've always grappled with, but I think I want to start doing that. When I'm out of the office for meetings, I always want to have my eye/hand on my organizer which, as you may have guessed, stores my passwords. I think my passwords listing are what I use the most in my life. What sites or software do people really trust? (Should I open a new thread?)

Keepass. Added benefit: it runs entirely from a thumbdrive.

 

[mcogilvie]

Wow, this thread took a strange turn!

Just two points, though:

Although "secure" and "insecure" can be useful categories, e.g., in the military, nothing is really secure in an absolute sense. While it is possible to discuss levels of security, and probabilities, our best security lies in the fact that most people don't really care very much about whatever it is we are doing. If my neighbors found out my net worth or my medical history, I would not be pleased, but in the end almost all of our lives are open to someone with sufficient determination.

I don't put highly sensitive information in my next action lists. It has nothing to do with paper versus electronic. The more sensitive the issue, the less revealing the entry.

 

[MarinaMartin]

Keeping passwords in electronic encrypted format is something I've always grappled with, but I think I want to start doing that. When I'm out of the office for meetings, I always want to have my eye/hand on my organizer which, as you may have guessed, stores my passwords. I think my passwords listing are what I use the most in my life. What sites or software do people really trust? (Should I open a new thread?)

I'm good friends with a number of experienced security consultants, and they all use 1Password. Therefore, I use 1Password

I've been using it for quite a few months now and very pleased with how easy it is to use. It's encouraged me to use much more complicated passwords at different sites, which increases my security overall.

 

[Kent Valentine]

This is all great insight...

...into this issue. Password1, eh? I'll have to look into it. I am currently using Password Pro, but I'm always on the lookout for a better way to accomplish things...

Kent

 

[mhm802]

I rarely post, but this "encryption" topic is really interesting. I'm a paper person, but have created a kind of password key that seems to work for me. I have a basic set of logins (identified by letter) and passwords (identifed by number), and simply put the code next to the associated website. So www.davidco might be A2 (I know what that means because A indicates a certain log in name and 2 indicates the password I've assigned to it). I use a limited number of log-ins and passwords, and have a simple mnemonic for keeping track of them, so no need to write the key down in my planner (but I have a copy printed out on my home office desk).

 

[Kent Valentine]

Actually...

....that's a DAM*ED good idea! I like that....

Kent