Typing Rhythm

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Synopsis: For frequently used passwords, follow your typing rhythm.


Passwords can be a drag if you use them frequently but have to think hard before you remember them.

Therefore, choose frequently used passwords in such a way that they follow a typing rhythm that feels natural to you. This way, you can hammer them out fast.

In the case of low-risk accounts, the password may be a DictionaryWord. In the case of medium-risk accounts, you may think of a few keys on your keyboards as drums and tap out a rift that feels good, for example, 9ddd8eee7. In the case of high-risk accounts, the password may be an arbitrary letter/digit combination that follows specifics of your anatomy or typing patterns.


Previous pattern: Account Category

Next pattern: Singleton Password

Contributors: Dirk Riehle, Norm Kerth


It seems to me that having to think hard to remember a password is orthogonal to the typing rhythm of a password. Certainly, typing rhythm can help jog one's memory, but is a password long enough that one's beginning to type can help him remember the ending? TypingRhythm is important for other reasons, too. For example, when typing one's password in a room where others could conceivably watch, having a password that types quickly is good. A password that is out of the typer's natural rhythm can take longer and be more stilted, which gives observers more opportunity to Steal The Sign (that's a baseball metaphor). -- EugeneWallingford

I'm afraid you'll have to explain Steal The Sign to me. :-( --DirkRiehle

Sorry for the culture-specific reference... In baseball, the catcher signals the pitcher to indicate what kind of pitch to throw and to what location. If a batter can know that information, then he can be prepared for the pitch. If a baserunner can know that information, then he can make better decisions about trying to steal a base. The lore of baseball is replete with baserunners on 2nd base, or observers in the outfield, trying to Steal The Sign and thus gain an advantage. To combat this, teams often have multiple codes that they use to prevent information gathered yesterday from being useful to the other team today. The reason I mentioned this idea here is that another strategy is to camouflage their signals or take other measures to ensure that the observers don'd have an opportunity to detect the signal. Passwords that are out of the typer's natural rhythm give an observer more opportunity to Steal The Sign, and this is a force driving toward Typing Rhythm. -- EugeneWallingford

IMO memory by typing rhythm and memory by thinking hard are at different ends of a learning process for passwords. Things you type a lot go into the muscles, they become a rhythm rather than a 'word'. Things you don't type a lot stay 'words' that you have to think hard about to recall. -- SachaBrostoff

Copyright (©) 2007 Dirk Riehle. Some rights reserved. (Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA.) Original Web Location: http://www.riehle.org