This week, I’ve chosen to feature two articles on passwords.

I’ve read a lot about passwords recently, but these two articles stand out as approaching the problem from different angles. In this Wired article, Matthew Honan – whose live was turned upside down after hackers essentially destroyed his online life last summer – argues that passwords are broken, and that we need to look for another security solution.

On the other hand, in this Lifehacker post, the brilliant Alan Henry describes how we can use tools that are already available to virtually every computer user to build a hack-proof password system – or, at least, something close.

I think the combined effect of these two articles is brilliant. The first convinced me beyond all reasonable doubt that something needed to be done, whilst the second told me how to do something right now to improve my own security. And it worked: a couple of weeks ago, I spent half a day changing a whole load of passwords across a whole bunch of online services, so that I no longer use the same password on different sites – one of those dumb things that everyone knows they shouldn’t do, but almost everyone does. Perhaps the combination will have the same effect on you, too!

2D posts appear on alternate Wednesdays. For 2D, I pick two interesting articles that look at an issue from two different – though not necessarily opposing – perspectives. I hope you enjoy them!