Maybe, Just Maybe, Writing Your Passwords On Paper Isn't So Bad?

This is not a joke. Stationery stores and selling pocket notebooks with the word "PASSWORDS" written across the front. Inside are pages, with alphabetized tabs and spaces for you to record the website name, the username (login), and your password. Plus a space for notes.

I thought these would be great gag gifts for my staff and co-workers. Maybe an April fools joke that ran something like an email sent to "all staff" announcing that we would no longer support encrypted password managers. And instead, it was a new company policy to supply staff with password books. "Effective immediately, all staff are required to store website and SaaS credentials in their company supplied password pocket books."

Maybe a password manager isn't a bad idea. What if you keep track of your passwords in written form but only while salting the handwritten passwords? Choose five characters that you will never put in your actual password, but be sure to include 2-3 of those five slats in your written password.

Example:

Set your salts as: etash

Salted password: Faceb00kL0vezMe!

('Faceb00kL0vezMe!' goes into the passwords pocket notebook).

Actual password: Fcb00kL0vzM!

Only you know what your salts are. Or, maybe you record your salts on a back page of the password book if you feel you'll ever need or want a reminder.

Foolproof? Not a chance. Hackable? Absolutely! It is a technique that might, (just might) make it easier to keep your accounts safer if your password book is ever lost, stolen, or compromised.