Having convinced himself that identity thieves wouldn’t risk jail time for the $89.72 in his checking account, area man, Steve Erickson, believes that the best identity protection is the pragmatic combination of a medium-strength password and an identity not worth protecting.
“It’s… it’s fine, probably.” Erickson stated after using his dog’s name plus his birthday to unlock his laptop, “Thieves aren’t stupid. I’m sure there’s a strict cost/benefit guideline that they follow. There’s just no way the effort needed to steal my identity would be worth the reward of having my identity.”
He said that he takes other precautions such as never trying to better his life and not having a strong social media presence, but thinks that the 18-character randomized passwords the bank recommends are overkill. “You don’t see people putting loose change in security vaults, so why would I create complex, unbreakable codes that I’m likely to forget for a sum total that wouldn’t even cover a night out?”
Steve did add that if he were to win the lottery one day then, sure, he might beef up the password strength. Or maybe pay someone to handle his passwords. “But until then I’m just going to rely on the innate security of inconsequential existence to protect me.”
