Stopped trusting password hints after a coworker's account got popped

Honestly, I used to be the worst about password hints. I mean, I would set them like 'my favorite dog' and then use that exact dog's name as the password, which is basically leaving the door open. Then last spring, a guy at the shop where I rent my grooming space got his email drained because his hint said 'birth year' and his birth year was right there on his public LinkedIn. That scared me straight. Now I use a passphrase built from a random line in a book I love and I never write a hint that connects to it at all. My recovery method is just a backup code stored in a locked drawer at home. Has anyone else ditched hints entirely or do you still use them for less important logins?

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leo_johnson2d ago

My old hint for my bank account was "wife's name" and my password was literally her name with a 1 at the end, so yeah, I was a walking security breach for about three years. The fix that stuck for me was picking a phrase from a song nobody would guess and keeping the hint totally blank, because a blank hint beats a hint that hands someone half the answer. Backup codes in a drawer work fine too, and honestly that beats any hint you could ever type into a box.

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