Pattern Passwords

Let’s face it we all hate coming up with a password, especially if we forget what it is!

Meet my old password, it was a 12 character monstrosity full of numbers, punctuation and buckets of frustration! In the end I decided enough was enough this password had to go, but what would be it’s replacement? The answer lay in Android’s pattern lock screen.

For the uninitiated the pattern lock screen can only be unlocked when the user joins the dots up in a certain order. It’s a very simple yet surprisingly secure way of locking your smartphone, unlike numbers or passwords there is no personal connection so it can’t be guessed!

I decided to apply this concept to my keyboard using the keys as ‘dots’ where I could draw a pattern on. Starting from q I travel 3 columns along to e and then 3 rows down to z. So from there you can draw any pattern you like (eg a square would be q > w > s > a).

I’m not sure how secure this is but I find it much easier to remember and so far it as proven just as secure as any other password I’ve used. If anyone has stats on how effective this is I’d love to see them.

That’s all folks!