Just realized my dad's "password123" advice from 2003 still haunts me

So last week my 70 year old dad calls me up to ask if his "password123" is still safe for his banking app after he heard about some hack on the news. I had to explain (for the 5th time now) that using the same password he taught me when I was 12 isn't great. But here's the thing - he then asked me why I use a password manager and I couldn't really explain it simply enough. It hit me weird that I've been using one for 3 years but never showed him how. Has anyone else had that awkward moment where you realize you've been gatekeeping basic cybersecurity from your own family?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_moore23h ago

i mean yeah the thing that gets me is how we just assume everyone knows this stuff already. like my dad's been using the same password for 15 years because nobody ever sat him down and showed him a password manager in plain english. i had to literally walk him through copying and pasting from the app before it clicked for him.

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harperb4614h ago

The password manager thing is such a perfect example though because the apps are designed by people who already know how to use them. I helped my aunt set up Bitwarden last month and she kept trying to click the browser extension icon instead of right clicking the password field. And the app said something like "autofill not detected" which meant absolutely nothing to her. The whole UX assumes you already understand the workflow. We need more tutorials that start at the very beginning like "this is what a password field looks like" not "configure your vault settings.