How to remember multiple passwords:
Using a Code Splash to hide passwords in plain sight
By Rick Kunze

For a while now I've been meaning to make this page, to share with you a method for remembering passwords.  With this little trick, you can carry with you at all times multiple passwords in plain text without anyone else knowing the passwords.  It's not foolproof, but it provides a high degree of camouflage.  Use at your own risk, your mileage may vary.  But for years now this has been the way I've carried my passwords with me.

• With today's sophisticated hacking attempts, you can no longer use language words in your passwords. If you do, it's only a matter of time before they'll be hacked.
• The best way to make a "crack-resistant" password is to MIX IT UP!  It needs to be random numbers, letters, and symbols with mixed upper/lower case.
• Make your passwords at least 8 characters long, I personally use nothing less than 10 characters.
• With this technique below, you can easily achieve a high degree of security without having to keep a readable note revealing your passwords.
• And the best part is that the "cheat sheet" is displayed in plain view right on your keyboard all the time.

Here's how to do it.

1. First, open up a text editor, it's best to use plain text and a fixed/monospaced font such as Courier.  Using a word processor with proportional fonts won't work very well.  You want a monospaced font so that each line has the same number of characters and is exactly the same length.
2. Next, pound out a few lines of random text, a "code splash", to contain upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols.  Note that only certain symbols are "legal" for passwords.  You can't use certain symbols in some operating systems, but you're usually safe with the underscore_, the hyphen-, the exclamation point !, the pound sign #, the ampersand @, and the carrot ^.  I'd recommend you don't push it beyond those to be safe.  To be safer, remove the ampersand as some systems disallow an email address for a password, and the existence of an ampersand could make the system think it's an email address.
3. Here is an example of such a code splash, I'm switching to a monospaced font for this part:
   
   X7h-yMa#vlwIsN!
   j_3SkebU6Md^Btw
   M9hecG@LrzJ2kF4
   Z8^h8a5nwU2o5Cy
    
4. You'll notice that by using a monospaced font such as Courier each line will be exactly the same length, with exactly the same number of characters in each line.  This is important.
5. The only part left is to choose the geometry of your password.  By picking a horizontal line, a vertical, a diagonal, or a combination thereof, you can make a password that is totally concealed within the splash.
   
   For example, new password #1 is as follows:  hcea#6z2
    
6. Pretty good password right?  But how can you possibly remember it?  Easy.  I've noticed over the years that we are pretty good at remembering geometric patterns.  Your new password was just such a pattern.
   
   X7h-yMa#vlwIsN!
   j_3SkebU6Md^Btw
   M9hecG@LrzJ2kF4
   Z8^h8a5nwU2o5Cy
    
7. Your password is the shape of a carrot symbol  ^  that starts with the lower case h on the bottom line.  Imagine how long it would take someone to figure that out?
8. As you can see, the possibilities are as endless as your ability to remember the pattern.  The larger the splash the better.
9. Print out the code splash (not the one revealing the password in red above!) and then cut it out with scissors and overlay it onto your keyboard covered with transparent tape.  Make several of them if you need to, one for each of your devices, maybe one for your wallet or purse too.  That way your passwords are always with you.  DON'T USE THIS ONE FROM MY EXAMPLE, if you do you'll reduce your security by several orders of magnitude.  (Because chances are good that several people will use it anyway!)  At least change SOME of the characters, if not all.  In fact, make it twice as long, with twice as many lines; even better!
10. Another handy trick comes into play over time.  As you use your new password(s) over time, you'll tend to memorize them permanently.  For example, let's say you've made 4 passwords with varying geometric patterns on the same code splash.  Let's call them P1, P2, P3, and P4.  (Password 1, password 2, etc.)  Over time you'll memorize these, and since they're so complex, you won't have to change them under normal circumstances.  They can be used for YEARS.  In this way, down the road when you need yet another password, instead of creating a new fifth password,  you can easily mix it up a little.  In the password above, make a slight alteration such as a capital C for the second character.  Then you just make a note to yourself that P5 is; "P1 w/cap C".  It is password P1 with a capital C.  With just that small note, a note that would mean nothing to anyone else, you'll know what P5 is because by then you'll have memorized P1.

Trust me, this may seem complicated, but over time you'll have a highly complex password system that is in plain sight all the time.  I've used the same code splash for a good 10 years now.  It works great.  To greatly increase the size of the code splash, you can use the same one 4 times like this:

X7h-yMa#vlwIsN!X7h-yMa#vlwIsN!
j_3SkebU6Md^Btwj_3SkebU6Md^Btw
M9hecG@LrzJ2kF4M9hecG@LrzJ2kF4
Z8^h8a5nwU2o5CyZ8^h8a5nwU2o5Cy
X7h-yMa#vlwIsN!X7h-yMa#vlwIsN!
j_3SkebU6Md^Btwj_3SkebU6Md^Btw
M9hecG@LrzJ2kF4M9hecG@LrzJ2kF4
Z8^h8a5nwU2o5CyZ8^h8a5nwU2o5Cy

        Note that if "X" is the whole code splash, this large one is simply XX with the original password in bold.
                                                                            XX

        Another 10 character password is shown in red: 6Md^Btwj_3

The larger the splash, the greater the security and the greater the number of combinations.  Hard to beat.

Hope this helps.

Rk
6/19/2015