Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I ran across a site with the most insane password requirements awhile back:

Some of this is from memory, so it might not be exact, but the requirements were:

1. Passwords must be exactly 14 characters long

2. Passwords must contain all 4 character classes (upper case, lower case, numbers, symbols)

3. Symbols must be from the set (! , . : ; " $ % & *) -- This wasn't specified, I had to figure it out from trial and error.

4. No more than two characters from any one class in a row (so aaBB is ok, aaaB is bad)

5. Passwords must be reset every 3 months

6. Passwords can not be similar to any previous passwords (it's vague what "similar" means)

7. Passwords must not be stored externally (IE, no copy/paste, no password managers)

Luckily I don't have to use that system anymore, because it was just completely awful. To be fair, they also had smartcards that didn't require this password nonsense, so I think the requirements were partially to encourage people to use the smartcards instead.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: