At work yesterday, I first found that my computer wouldn't accept my password. I had not had any messages telling me it was time to change my password, and it wouldn't allow me to change my password; it just said I was typing in the wrong password and wouldn't let me log in. So I turned it off and went to another machine, down in the lab. I had no trouble with that one, so my password was still good.
Back upstairs, I turned the computer on again, and logged in with the same password without any problem.
Then I went to a website that has Human Resources information, including my pay stubs. The site said my password had expired and I needed to change it. I tried typing in a new password, and it was rejected. I don't know why, as I included the required characters and it was long enough. But then I tried another. Also rejected. The site gave an option of offering a "complex password" that looked like a random string on numbers and letters. I clicked on that, and got an password in place. Which didn't meet the security requirements.
That's right. The password generator for the site generated a password that didn't meet the site's requirements.
I fixed it, adding what needed to be there to meet the requirements, and changed the password. When asked if I wanted the machine and site to save the password, I chose, "Yes."
Then I went back to the login page. And it rejected my password, saying the password didn't match. The "saved" password was somehow different from the password that had just updated. It's a good thing I had copied down that complex string of a password, complete with my corrections. I typed it all back in, and it was accepted. I clicked Update, just hoping for next time.
So, algorithms zero, feeble-minded aging human three. I keep adding to the data by my occasional posts here, but the algorithms are not so intimidating as the stories make out.
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