It’s the start of a new school year and everyone is probably wondering the same thing…”What was my password?”  If you have ever forgotten your password, or struggle with mandatory password changes, or coming up with the perfect combination of upper-case letters, numbers, symbols, and characters then you love today’s show because we reveal why everything we thought about password security is WRONG!

Lessons Learned

Dennis – Use Jetlag to your advantage (Awake early? Workout.)

Chris – Particularly memorable moments, when students really “get” it and are totally engaged, are only as powerful as the number of fellow educators with whom you share them.

Daniel – Embraced the Neutral zone.  Transitioning from an international school, I felt the most comfortable with ambiguity this summer.  I must have more patience as I am about to turn the big 4.0…it’s a major upgrade this year.  Lots of bugs to get rid of.

Fun Facts

Why are errors in computer programs called bugs?

http://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/September/9/

September 9, 1947

At 3:45 p.m., Grace Murray Hopper records the first computer bug in her log book as she worked on the Harvard Mark II. The problem was traced to a moth stuck between a relay in the machine, which Hopper duly taped into the Mark II’s log book with the explanation: “First actual case of bug being found.”

Notes & Links

Have you ever heard of a man named Bill Burr?  He retired now and he wants to say he’s sorry.  Who is he?

  • Former manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
  • Author of “NIST Special Publication 800-63. Appendix A.”
  • The reason we have all those rules about using uppercase letters and special characters and numbers

Turns out it’s all wrong!

https://gizmodo.com/the-guy-who-invented-those-annoying-password-rules-now-1797643987

(Be sure to check out the XKCD Comic in this article)

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/08/14/543434808/forget-tough-passwords-new-guidelines-make-it-simple

NIST now has revised their guidelines. If you like to read long boring government documents, here you go: https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/sp800-63b.html

What does this mean for teachers? Students?  District Tech Admin?

Example Lesson we use here for Grade 3:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQXwFVRwVZbrXBZU4pa7pR-XDnAIKLgjk1CX4eUlloE_rKKq6798t-ckX68r5gylEUz0m8EvGc-nyVA/pub

Chris’s Two Cents

Great passwords that are easy to remember, hard to crack, and unique for each of your online accounts? Easy! It is all about a former vice president attempting to dance. That’s right .. It’s all about “algorithm.”

  • Easy to remember
  • Hard to crack
  • Unique