The issue

What's up my friends!

It's very well know that grandma's advice:
"Sonnn, don't use the same password for all the services you use... oh! and in your first date you must kiss that girl, be a beassstt grr" (cringe 😳)

Well, grandma was right (in both 😏). Now, I ask you, how many accounts do you have currently mmm? let's suppose for a common user:

1. Instagram

2. Twitter

3. Meta (Facebook)

4. Gmail

5. Outlook

6. Bank Service

7. Other financial services

8. Netflix

9. Amazon

10. Ebay

11. Pinterest

12. Medical service

13. Institution

14. Linkedin

They have many more of course! In my case, more than 50.

So, if we shouldn't use the same password, what could we do?
Probably you have heard about password managers, isn't it? like 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane, KeePass, and so on. These could be a solution, but personally, I don't like to use third party applications, nor pay for something I could do with the powerful machine I have on top (and you too), and I'm talking about our brain.

The solution

In hacking, there is a well know pentesting technique called, brute force attack, which consists of trying to bypass a form with a huge set of possible passwords. This set or list is called a dictionary, for example check this one or this other. But "dictionary" is also a mnemonic technique with which you can memorize a random list of items matching them with a list of words you already have well memorized in your brain, the latter is the dictionary.

Once known that, here is the solution:
To avoid using the same password or managers, I suggest you to create a dictionary of passwords, in which, the first letter of the website URL gives you the corresponding key. The dictionary could be inspired in a concept or not, for example a list of body parts, flowers, computer parts, car brands, etc.

Here is an example:

Choose a topic, let's say countries:

A - Azerbaijan
B - Belarus
C - Cyprus
D - Dominica
E - Estonia
...

Memorize this list.
Change some certain character in the whole list, let's say only the characters e by 3, a by 4 and t by 7:

A - 4z3rb4ij4n
B - B3l4rus
C - Cyprus
D - Dominic4
E - 3s7oni4
...

Now create a string with numeric and special characters, for example "#3243@2190" where the numbers could come from something meaningful for your like birthdays, DNIs, telephone numbers, address, an specific sequence on you numeric keyboard (cross, zeta, X, N, etc).

Now, join the countries with the string:

A - 4z3rb4ij4n324#3243@2190
B - B3l4rus324#3243@2190
C - Cyprus324#3243@2190
D - Dominic4324#3243@2190
E - 3s7oni4324#3243@2190

TA-DAA! .... Not bad isn't it? 😁

So, for sites starting with A like Amazon, you just remember the country Azerbaijan, replacing a,e by 4,3 and putting at the end your special string.

You could vary and say, the password will match not with the first letter but with the second, so for Amazon you choose the password starting from M, and so on.

This is how I manage my passwords 🔑.

Conclusion

My friends, crypto will be the future of our finances, so take care of yourselves, don't forget to use guest user (private window) if you are not in your machine, use a VPN if you are going to connect to a public network, change your passwords at least every 90 days and finally activate SMS verification in your email services (one friend saved his wallet with this!).

Saying that, see you next time!

P.S.

If this post was useful, interesting, funny for you, I really appreciate your like and support. Don't forget to share it with anyone who might find it helpful.