As we've discussed, it's hard for people to pick good passwords and remember them. So users need "tricks" to help the memory. One way I've told people to construct a password is to base the password on an embarrassing moment in your life - that way you won't forget the password and you also won't tell it to anyone else.
Apparently people have been using that, and similar, methods. NY Times reporter Ian Urbana wrote a great piece on this called "The Secret Life of Passwords". He asked people to tell him their passwords - yes, you shouldn't do that - but also the story behind the passwords. There are some very interesting stories. People seem to memorialize a part of their life in their passwords! You can read the full story here. Leo Laporte did a great interview with Ian in the Triangulation podcast. You can hear that here.
I'd like to focus to two aspects of this story that jumped out at me.
First is the story of Cantor Fitzgerald. They are a large financial firm who were headquartered at the World Trade Center in 2001. When the terrorist attacks hit the towers, Cantor Fitzgerald over two-thirds of their employees were killed. That was tragic.
