Alphanumeric passwords with enforced numbers – more “Security Theatre”

Reading through TechCrunch’s Depressing Analysis Of RockYou Hacked Passwords:

According to a study by Imperva, [the most common password is] “123456,” followed by “12345,” “123456789″ and “Password,” in that order. “iloveyou” came in at no. 5.

I generate my passwords with APG, which generates passwords like this:

  • Irikyak6
  • RaypHiam6
  • radsErn2
  • reebrIjLi

As you can tell, these are for all intents and purposes, secure. However, some sites out there insist that the last one on the list is insecure. Why? It

Posted at 1am on 22/01/10 | no comments | Filed Under: Software read on

Shared Vocabulary, Problem Solving, and Domain Driven Design

In The Science of Screwing Up, Wired Magazine discusses Kevin Dunbar: “a researcher who studies how scientists study things — how they fail and succeed”.

When Dunbar reviewed the transcripts of [a meeting involving people from numerous disciplines], he found that the intellectual mix generated a distinct type of interaction in which the scientists were forced to rely on metaphors and analogies to express themselves. (That’s because, unlike [his comparison group of specialists,] the E.

Posted at 9pm on 16/01/10 | no comments | Filed Under: Software, Thinking about Thinking, Uncategorized read on

About

I’m a director of Radix Financial Software (Pty) Ltd, a divison of Qualica Technologies (Pty) Ltd, in Johannesburg, South Africa. I specialise in financial software development on databases, using Sybase’s SQLRemote and SQLAnywhere products.

Outside of work, I’m the proud significant-other of Siobhan Kotze, who runs her own Marketing and Events company.

We live in Killarney, Johannesburg, South Africa, with our two cats, Pippin and Sharjah.

I’ll put up a more detailed biography separately sometime in the near future.

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