Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

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CHAPTER 8 LEOPARD SECURITY
Figure 8-5. The password sheet allows you to enter a password into a new keychain item.
NOTE Ten years ago, an eight-character password was considered strong. Today, that would
be a minimum acceptable in most situations. As computing power increases, passwords
become increasingly less effective, since as password lengths increase, it becomes increasingly
hard to remember them, and therefore less practical. For this reason, a number of password
alternatives have been developed, and are gaining in popularity. These alternatives may be
used to complement a password system or eliminate passwords altogether. These alternatives
include smart cards and other hardware authentication devices, and biometric security measures
(such as fingerprint readers).
When you choose to enter a secure note item to your keychain, the sheet that appears (Figure
8-6) asks for a name for your item and then includes a large text field for your note.
If you intend to store lots of personal information in a keychain, you may want to create a
keychain separate from your login keychain to store information; this is easily done by selecting
File ➤ New Keychain... from the Keychain Access menu.
Figure 8-6. The keychain sheet for entering a secure note item