Password managers too hard for old person

throwaway4372

throwaway4372

throwaway4372

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A few months back I realised that an elderly relative was using a password book. Each account written on paper, with very weak passwords, with re-used passwords, and quite often accounts not written down or the information written down is wrong.

The technical solution is obvious, the old person needs a password manager, and passwords updating to improve strength and uniqueness, and while we're at it some accounts could use 2FA.

The problem is it's too technical for them, tried a few times to set it up but they get upset and can't continue.

Anyone been in a similar situation and how did you resolve it?
 
Feek said:
Nothing wrong with a password book, providing it's kept up to date and that passwords are unique and complicated.
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They won't keep it up to date and use strong unique passwords. Just not disciplined enough. That's how they got into this situation to begin with. If I don't intervene the situation won't improve.

Uther said:
You think someone is going to break in and steal their password book?
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No I'm not worried about that. Mainly that the book has resulted in general bad practice so all their online accounts are essentially unprotected.
 
throwaway4372 said:
If I don't intervene the situation won't improve.
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You've said that the password manager thing gets them upset and they can't continue, so you need to concentrate on improving what they're currently using.

There's very little reason why passwords should be out of date because the only time any site really insists on them being changed is if there's a breach.

So buy a new password book, sit down with this person and work your way through the existing book, logging onto each site, one at a time, changing the password to something more secure (use what three words and just pick random places on the map and then add a number and symbol), write the new passwords in the new book and you're done.

Rocket science, it is not.
 
Not had to deal with this myself, but two ideas
1. Come up with say 20 strong passwords for them, write them on a roll of stickers. Then next time your elderly relative needs a new password they peel a sticker off, put it in their password book under the relevant website name, and use that password.
2. Get them using the built in Chrome / Edge / whatever password manager - as simple as possible, no extra extension needed.

E: and guess there's some prioritising to do, e.g. if resetting all their passwords is too stressful for them at least make sure key ones like email accounts, bank accounts are reset.
 
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GreatAuk said:
Come up with say 20 strong passwords for them, write them on a roll of stickers. Then next time your elderly relative needs a new password they peel a sticker off, put it in their password book under the relevant website name, and use that password.
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What a great idea, I like this.

@throwaway4372
Do this, along with the new password book and new passwords for everything and you're sorted.
 
throwaway4372 said:
A few months back I realised that an elderly relative was using a password book.
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Nothing wrong with that.

throwaway4372 said:
with very weak passwords, with re-used passwords, and quite often accounts not written down or the information written down is wrong.
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Ah, that's another matter.

throwaway4372 said:
and use strong unique passwords.
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Show them how easy it is to create passwords which are easy to transcribe yet hard to crack. Simply pick some words and add punctuation or numbers between them, like Fred&Wilma!Limousine. Or outside, like !FredMaisonette&. Of course, this is much easier to crack if you know the method but artificial stupidity is still the rule.
 
Just remember that most of us will end up at the gentle end of the dementia bell curve eventually. Some, sadly, get a lot further up it. Even if dementia isn't a factor here (yet), resistance to change and difficulty to adapt to anything new are most definitely A Thing. A bad system that works, and they can keep using, is better than nothing at all... which is what can easily happen as things we take for granted start to unravel more obviously.

Hopefully this isn't a factor, but my life now is volunteering with dementia groups and the like, and from call centres to passwords, two factor authentication, and mobile phone faff, the modern world is rapidly leaving many older folk behind... And I'm not convinced I'll manage any better when my turn comes, despite a lifetime of technical semi-competence. I've watched modern life's capabilities peeled away from folk one layer at a time, often very quickly in their journey towards confusion. Power of Attorney doesn't always help either, for those around them. Proving incompetence and getting through to necessary services can be a challenge.

So... keeping things simple and yet safe is... challenging.
 
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Was just doing the DVLA login, I've already got a gov account for council tax, but the DVLA thing required more processes. taking photo of license, facial recognition

Getting a bit much now

Then it does confirmation code to your phone so you need to be able to use two devices or apps - easier with PC, then it asks to scan a QR code. Like really?
 
hornetstinger said:
Was just doing the DVLA login, I've already got a gov account for council tax, but the DVLA thing required more processes. taking photo of license, facial recognition

Getting a bit much now

Then it does confirmation code to your phone so you need to be able to use two devices or apps - easier with PC, then it asks to scan a QR code. Like really?
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You sound like you need a password book.
 
you can get a password key, usb once insterted it should enter in the username and password for you. I've been thinking of getting one myself so I can store the usernames and password of all my accounts and pass the key to my niece in case anything happens to me.

www.yubico.com

Get YubiKey

Built to protect. Built to last. Every YubiKey is made with premium materials and tested for durability. No batteries, no moving parts, just solid engineering. Made in Sweden and programmed in the USA in secure, audited facilities, so you can trust what’s on your keychain.
www.yubico.com
 
slinxy said:
you can get a password key, usb once insterted it should enter in the username and password for you. I've been thinking of getting one myself so I can store the usernames and password of all my accounts and pass the key to my niece in case anything happens to me.

www.yubico.com

Get YubiKey

Built to protect. Built to last. Every YubiKey is made with premium materials and tested for durability. No batteries, no moving parts, just solid engineering. Made in Sweden and programmed in the USA in secure, audited facilities, so you can trust what’s on your keychain.
www.yubico.com
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I've had usb sticks that randomly don't work anymore so not sure I'd trust that tbh.
 
Uther said:
I've had usb sticks that randomly don't work anymore so not sure I'd trust that tbh.
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I've never used one myself, but I see a few people at work testing them.. we require military grade secuirty at work so they must have some sort of certification on them.

I'm mainly a macOS/iOS user so I have keychains for for personal use and SSO for most of the stuff for work, unless it requires MFA.
 
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