Friday DE

[bjornwilde]

 For whatever reason, this morning I am thinking about passwords; their strengths and such. Broadening this a bit to be more inclusive to the historical/fantasy folks, how well or closely does your pup guard their personal information? Do they have complex passwords for every site they visit? Do they use a code for their journal entries? Do they keep all the important stuff in their heads and never tell anyone?

And is their system as secure as they think it is?

Comments

[a1enzo]

Enzo is a Guardian at the Supercomputer Port Authority. He is the one checking the passwords.

[leeshajoy]

And how good are those passwords, typically?

[a1enzo]

Well, I forget what the standard was in 1997, but they are extremely good by that standard. ;-)

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka: Likely barely follows whatever protocols the Jedi and the Republic military have. She doesn't seem that concerned with security at this point.

Sabine: Lots of different passwords and none of them seem alike or are based on each other. She also keeps a journal and it is heavily password protected. It only exists in the computer in her armor.

Rollo: Keeps everything in his head and is actually fairly secure with info. I think he makes songs to help him remember the important bits.

Sam: I think he uses two or three tier security for things; like how Google does password plus a code the SMS to you. I think his passwords aren't the securest otherwise but much better than "WARMACHINEROX". ; p

Eliot doesn't do tech but I think he does use spells tied to his essence for a journal or notebook. He doesn't write down sensitive info though, it's more good spells he's created or discovered, and cocktail recipes/thoughts.

Izana: Pretty strong passwords actually. Passwords are likely tied to a theme however.

Selina doesn't deal with passwords and keeps any info she deems important in her head. She's very paranoid when it comes to her security.

Hank's passwords, when he gets to a point of using theme, have an esoteric theme to them that only he can really grok. They are always very secure. I think for now he likely writes in cyphers but might use the same one for everything.

Amelia is a dragon and is paranoid. She doesn't trust writing things down without it being in cypher and protected with magics. In the future she'll even hide an extensive library in a pocket dimension on a deserted island in the Philippines.

[i_am_your_host]

Whatever Emcee deems important, he keeps it in his head. In his own world, he doesn't really have any personal information on paper. He is literally undocumented. However, in Jay's modern world, Emcee now has a ton of personal information, documents, and things like credit cards to protect, which...I think we'll handwave getting a nice big customized safe with Jay-type super-duper triple-security checks with password/fingerprint/voice recognition, because Emcee would actually be paranoid to have that sort of stuff laying around.

(Oh yes, I may have failed to mention that Emcee now has a home in modern-day Berlin, but the OOM is ongoing, and he still has a difficult time processing the fact that he has a safety net.)

[bjornwilde]

OH, can't wait for the OOM. = ]

[genarti]

Enjolras was the semi-leader of one of many allied underground anti-government groups under a repressive monarchy/dictatorship, and he was competent at it. So: yes, he guards everything closely! There's a whole lot that's only in his head, or only written down in shorthand and cipher with important bits not included. He doesn't guard it from the other lieutenants of the Amis, i.e. most of the other dead French revolutionaries in Milliways, of course, but his 1830s equivalent of file security is super tight.

Cosette, on the other hand, is not an especially guarded person. Of course she has secrets and things only in her head, but they're mostly things she hasn't bothered to write down, rather than things she's deliberately keeping good information security about. She's the kind of person who accidentally achieves good security by going "oh, I never bothered to write that down, I just know it!" a good bit of the time, though.

Kazul is a dragon. She guards plenty of things fairly closely -- although gaps in those protections are the things her canon's plots are made of, dammit wizards stop sneaking into forbidden magic caves -- but her personal information isn't actually too high on that list. She sees no reason to keep a journal or anything like that, though, so there's a good bit she guards just by not seeing any reason to write it down for herself or anyone else.

Thor has better security than you might think if something is an Asgardian state secret or something, because he is very duty-conscious. But for anything personal, pfffft whatever. That said, something that's personal and just personal he sees no reason to write down or otherwise record -- he's an in-the-moment kind of guy, not one who sits down and records the past to reflect on -- and something that's personal and also royal business gets treated with whatever security its level of royal business requires. What information security Asgard's glowy futuristic magic-tech involves, I have no idea, but it's probably pretty solid.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim writes his own encryption programs, some out of his own head and some adapted from intelligence-grade systems already in place in the world. Everything is locked down as tight as it's possible to be; he codes the things locked in his head because he thinks in numbers, and everything written down is encrypted in one way or another. Even the things he says usually mean something else, even if no one ever knows about it.

So yeah, he's big on security. It's partly due to the nature of his work, and partly because that's just how he thinks. He lies like other people breathe, and even the facts he protects are only a certain version of reality. Truth's boring, after all.

[student_of_impossibility]

This does not apply to Eriond or for the moment Evelyn (and later honestly while security is an Inquisition concern she has little personal information to guard, and also paranoia is not her department, that's for Leliana).

Henry goes to some lengths to keep his mom from knowing what's going on inside his head. There are reasons for this.

Lois has reasonably secure passwords in the Mostly Casual User sense. She's an investigative journalist; she's going to be careful, but she is not paranoid and controlling.

R2-D2 is one of the most secure data storages in the galaxy. Just ask Luke and Leia.

Anakin, on the other hand, makes an epic security fail by way of R2-D2. For whatever reason he never actually wipes Artoo's data after missions in a flagrant disregard for protocol. On the one hand, this has helped make Artoo the hero of the galaxy. On the other, yes, Anakin is that stupid, because if R2 gets captured things get bad. The one thing he tries (and fails) to be paranoid about hiding (or has reason to hide at all) is his marriage to Padme. Vader, by contrast, not only has security protocols of the Empire to deal with but tries not to leave anyone who knows he's Anakin Skywalker alive (except Palpatine--you know, until the thing).

Tavi, uh. Um. tl;dr: pft personal information is basically open to all. Everything else is subject to his compulsiveness and love of torturing everyone by Not Saying Anything, because he thinks it's funny (family trait).

As far as personal information goes, for most of his life two people were the ones hiding it, not him (number eventually going up to a half dozen or so). He had a certain amount of it when he was Totally Rufus Scipio the Not At All Tavi. Personal information about him is pretty much not a thing anymore. Exceptions: his journals are reasonably obscured until after his death, and no one gets the royal seals away from him. Military and political information?Setting aside extensive security protocols with his intelligence network, anyone who works for him eventually runs into the frustration of being given orders without a reason for them because Security, or just not being told things because It's Funny. Not even just the people who work for him: even Kitai is not exempt from this. Book five is based entirely on the premise that Tavi keeps an entire decision tree in his head, gives no reasons for apparently nonsensical orders, gloats about this, and basically uses everyone around him to play a quick game of Civilization. (And Alera is a secret that dies with him and Kitai.)

(logged into his journal just to be able to use that icon because see above)

[never_promised]

Hal would love to keep personal information private, but "personal" and "private" get weird when you're a medieval king with dudes hanging around you at every moment, and your personal secrets are by definition state secrets. I'm...too lazy to look up era-appropriate encryption stuff. But I suspect his concept of security leans much more towards interpersonal trust. ....if he ever is using passwords for any milliways tech his password is probably going to be something really dumb like PLANTAGENET.

See Enjolras's answer for Feuilly and Bossuet--but Bossuet in particular likes tinkering around with mathy things and code, in a way that he freely acknowledges is amateurish. And all his passwords are awful puns. (Feuilly's passwords are always names of prominent Polish revolutionaries. NO ONE WILL EVER GUESS.)

Ursula really doesn't care about security. If she needs some kind of password for something, it's probably just ursula or 1234567890 or her birthday.

Gredya is mystified by this question. If you don't want people to know things, don't say them. Or write them down. Duh?

The Chief runs an organization that fights international crime. I'm sure she's all on top of things in a way that makes no sense whatsoever.

And Djehuty uses magic. Which gets complicated in terms of security? Like I mean a lot of Egyptian magic is based on compelling gods and spirits to do things? So he also does a whole LOT of not-telling-people-things.

[just_cant_lose]

I love Gredya. :D

[clayforthedevil]

Feuilly omg <3

[never_promised]

i'm not saying there were secret meetings where the password was Kościuszko and eventually everyone gave up trying to say it and was just like "fuck you feuilly you know who i am"

i'm just saying

(i'm saying "fuck you feuilly you know who i am" is an acceptable and no doubt traditional password in some circles)

[genarti]

I was torn between making the "his account name is Allison and his password is also Allison?" joke with Emilia Plater or Thaddeus Kościuszko, I confess.

All the Amis can guess that his password is Kościuszko, but they're all French speakers and none of them can spell it correctly so they just get locked out for too many failed tries when they try to use his tablet.

(also hee hee hee I love this mental image forever)

[onceaviking]

Eric is paranoid, heavily into double (and triple) bookkeeping and prefer keeping lots of things hidden from other people.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Not even Pam knows all the passwords.

[harryhotspur]

Harry does not keep secrets. Harry does not have an inside voice. Harry writes people letters inviting them to join in a rebellion and then those people write back like 'no thanks' and immediately go tell the king. If there is something you need kept secret, it's better to just not tell Harry Percy at all.

Viola on the other hand is great at keeping things secret and private, mostly by understanding and hiding behind cultural assumptions. Why wouldn't someone be what they seem? On the other hand, she hates lying, but has a fondness for telling the truth in a way that no one will believe it. Her passwords, if she had any, would all be fairly clever.

Marius is immensely private. He doesn't have many close friends at all, and there are plenty of things that (at least until recently/until meeting Cosette) he has confided in literally no one about. But he's not particularly active about this secrecy, at least not anymore, so it might not immediately occur to him to come up with super complicated passwords and such. He's just used to keeping de facto secrets by not talking to anyone about anything.

[never_promised]

oh harry
oh viola
oh marius

[harryhotspur]

*THUMBS UP*

[clayforthedevil]

HarRY

otoh feelin' those "people write back like 'no thanks'" rebellion blues, man

[ceitfianna]

This is a fascinating question. I'm recovering from my wonderful interview and so much travel.

Will doesn't use devices with passwords but in terms of keeping secrets, he's good at it. That's part of what kept the Merry Men safe, they protect each other and he never let anything out when being tortured.

Charles carries a lot of secrets around in his head, his own and others. Mainly he's discrete unless he forgets like he did with Hank, which was stupid and partly him being excited. I think in terms of personal documents and such, there's a safe if not multiple safes and he's used to locking up valuables. When devices become something, I think most of his passwords will be connected to genes so a series of random letters but he knows what it means.

Quentin has a number of secrets that he keeps tightly held. I imagine that he constantly changes his passwords on his phone and other places. ALH probably has a program to help with that.

William doesn't have that much that he's not willing to share with people he trusts.

Moist lives in secrets and has hidden stashes of stuff for changing his identity everywhere. Passwords and safes aren't his idea of safety, something that you can leave and find again is safer. If there's something to be opened, someone will try to. Better to know where it is and how to get out. Details of himself he keeps secret by lying and shifting to what will appeal most to someone.

Sameth doesn't have that many secrets and the Old Kingdom has a whole system of magical locks set up. There are certain places that only members of certain bloodlines can go. To him that's truly secure and as a prince, he's used to everyone knowing his business. That's why he's not too surprised by what's happening in Milliways with Jim. At home, after the cricket attack and when he was feeling scared of being Abhorsen-in-Waiting, he accepted that everyone knew how he was failing.

Jane is another without many secrets. She has her writing tucked away but she lives in a small house with her family, she's discrete but her sister Cassandra knows almost all of her secrets.

Ivan is an interesting position because as a member of the military and a high ranking aristocrat, he holds lots of secrets but not all of them are obviously secrets. Some of them are simply information he knows as he's learned from his mother to pay attention to the social world around him. He's incredibly good at being discrete as that's part of living in the world he does. Yet he's also a good officer who later becomes an Admiral's private aide, so I think for him, secrets and being thoughtful about who knows what is how he exists. In terms of passwords, his could probably be stronger, but there's a certain level of encryption in the system. He's not living a covert life like Miles.

Demeter watches over other people's secrets sometimes but she tends to be as open as possible.

Tumnus can be very secretive, it was how he stayed alive during the Long Winter by hiding and not seeing others who hid. Even when he was a spy, it didn't work as he ended up telling Lucy. As a royal advisor, I think he has more secrets and is highly trusted since he doesn't speak of them.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei uses a password manager so he can employ a different complex, randomly generated password for all the logins he uses. He also has separate usernames and even e-mails for each login! Yes, he's slightly paranoid. He doesn't even use credit or debit cards if he can avoid it.

He doesn't even do a lot of business on the conventional Internet anyway: mostly he uses it to read the news or Wikipedia, follow people on Twitter, and watch cat videos. Most of the sites, apps, etc. that he uses for important stuff are designed and maintained by hacker mages. They moved from passwords to more sophisticated forms of authentication years ago.

[notmygrandfather]

Franklin Richards trusts all his passwords/etc to both Leech and Val. Same password for most things, and if he's not sure, he asks one of them.

(Even though he's half-convinced Val will betray them all at some point...)



Anakin Solo, on the other hand, has different passwords for every Holonet site, and has a datapad completely offline, something no one has ever had access to. Except maybe Jacen, since they share a room, but Jacen could never guess the password.