Dec 19th – Dilbert & Passwords

Hello everyone!

Today’s comic is Dilbert featuring the issue of online security and passwords.

Comic Breakdown

“Starting today, all passwords must contain letters, numbers, doodles, sign language, and squirrel noises.” – Pointy Haired Boss to his employees

What is a doodle?

A doodle is another word for a hand drawn picture.

It would be very hard and near impossible to include a drawing in a password that has to be typed in.

What is sign language?

Sign language is communication through hand gestures and signals.  It is how the deaf and hearing impaired communicate.

Sign language does not have sound or keyboard symbols so you cannot put that in a password that has to be typed in.

What are squirrels?

A squirrel is a small rodent that lives in rural and urban areas such as parks and people’s gardens. 

It would be very hard to create a password that had to be typed in using squirrel noises (sounds).  Instead one would have to decide what kind of sound a squirrel usually makes and think of a password that included letters of the alphabet that made the same sound as squirrel noises.  This would appear as random letters that appear in a password to everyone else. 

Why is this funny?

This comic is making fun of how computer users are now required to create increasingly difficult passwords for greater security.  To make it funnier, this boss wants everyone to create ridiculously hard passwords that are not really possible on a traditional keyboard. 

Many email providers, online accounts, and computer accounts now require users to create passwords that contain letters (in lower case and capitals), numbers, and symbols to increase security. 

Though funny, this comic also shows how much protection people and companies must have now for online security.

Today's images are from here, here, here, here, here, and here.