Overcome password frustration with Joe Kissell's expert advice!
Passwords have become a truly maddening aspect of modern life, but with this book, you can discover how the experts handle all manner of password situations, including multi-factor authentication that can protect you even if a company's password file is stolen and hacked.
The book explains what makes a password secure and helps you create a strategy that includes using a password manager, working with oddball security questions like "what is your pet's favorite movie?", and making sure your passwords are always available when needed.
Joe helps you choose a password manager (or switch to a better one) in a chapter that discusses desirable features and describes a dozen different apps, with a focus on those that work in OS X, iOS, Windows, and Android. The book also looks at how you can audit your passwords to keep them in tip-top shape, use two-step verification and two-factor authentication, and deal with situations where a password manager can't help.
The book closes with an appendix on helping a relative set up a reasonable password strategy for those whose relatives have distressing password strategies, and an extended explanation of password entropy for those who want to consider the math behind passwords.
Teach This Book! Once you're satisfied with your password strategy, you may want to help others improve theirs with one-on-one training or a group presentation. To help you, this book includes links to a downloadable one-page PDF handout and to a PDF-based slide deck about passwords.
"Awesome. You did an amazing job breaking it down. This should be mandatory reading." -Rich Mogull, CEO at Securosis
This book helps you overcome frustrations that arise when attempting to design a strategy for dealing with the following password problems:
"Joe handles a confusing and scary subject more clearly and calmly than I would have thought possible. I'll be recommending this book to just about everybody I know." -William Porter, database developer, author, photographer