I got an e-mail earlier this week from a financial web site. The e-mail displayed the last 4 digits of my U.S. social security number. Presumably, they didn’t show the entire number for security reasons, but I wondered how secure that really is to show even the last 4 digits. Can someone easily guess my full SSN with just the last 4 digits? Read the rest of this entry »

I am now making available a freeware desktop version of Pafwert, a strong password generator. Although it looks simple on the surface, Pafwert is a complex software application I built based on years of research on passwords and password security.

Larger Screen Shot

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I recently ran across this tool I made for a client several years ago and thought I would share it. It’s basically for those times when you need a little privacy but there are too many peeping eyes around. Just pop open squint and it makes it hard to see the screen unless you are fairly close.

There’s really not much to the program. A single click alternates between opaque and transparent states and a double-click brings up an options dialog.

You can download the file here