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  • Nov 3, 2026, 1:13 PM

    @briankrebs @Drarok It can still be compromised. Which needs:

    * someone breaks into your house
    * they're bright enough to be aware of the concept of passwords[#]
    * they find one tiny notebook somewhere in an entire house
    * they decode whatever obfuscation you've used to write things down[*]
    * they also steal your phone so that they can access things with 2FA
    * they hack your accounts before you realise you've been burgled and do something about the important ones.

    Not all these steps are hard, but not all of them are easy.

    [#] The last burglars we had left US $20 bills scattered on the floor, apparently not recognising that these were "money".

    [*] For example, and this isn't how I do mine, words underlined in pencil in a long out of date O'Reilly PERL manual on a bookshelf with dozens of other long out of date O'Reilly manuals.

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Replies

  • Nov 3, 2026, 1:14 PM

    @TimWardCam nonsense – I need passwords outside of the house so would have to carry it everywhere. Inconvenient and incredibly risky.

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  • Nov 3, 2026, 1:18 PM

    @Drarok I don't use passwords outside of the house, other than a few I remember and a few my phone knows. I might take a note of the Netflix password with me in case I want to watch on someone else's telly, which doesn't already have an account, but that's about the only one.

    This did once cause a minor irritation when I needed to pay someone online whilst we were away from home for a few weeks ... easily solved by getting my wife to do the paying for me, as she actually remembers enough passwords for that!

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  • Nov 3, 2026, 1:31 PM

    @bob_zim @Drarok I think it's individual apps, not the phone itself.

    Which can do really, really, stupid things.

    Like the AA app, which you don't use from one decade to the next - and then your car breaks down so you fire it up. And it wants you to re-enter your password because you haven't used the app for a year. FFS.

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  • AnneHannehargreaves@ioc.exchange
    Nov 3, 2026, 1:24 PM

    @Drarok @TimWardCam Depends on individual use case. Eg an elderly person who doesn't travel about much & finds password managers confusing or untrustworthy is better off with a password book.

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