Until recently I worked for a multinational manufacturing company
Following on from all the password wankery detailed in many posts below, I have a doozy!
As I worked from home* I was issued with a laptop so I could access information, check pricing etc etc. Said laptop was connected to the corporate mainframe via VPN and there were three levels of security I had to go through to actually use the data I needed. Each level had to have an eight character password, different from the others with at least one capital letter, one number and one 'special' character (%$£"* etc).
The further wankery was that each one had to be changed every two months and couldn't be one you'd used before nor could it be a 'recognisable word' as defined by the (German) IT department. That equates to eighteen eight-character passwords per year.
I lost count of the times my colleages and I were booted off the system for getting it wrong. That is until I found out the passwords for management access - which WEREN'T changed and each level was the same!
The Uber - secure password used by management and directors?

Password123$

IT geeks have no imagination.

*Sat around in my pants eating biscuits and wanking like a demented chimp.
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 9:10, 5 replies)

Haha!...

I knew this QotW would set you off, Cap. In fact, I thought you'd already have several thousand stories posted already...but then again I suppose it takes time to leaf through your multi-volumed journal entitled 'Captain Placid Vs Corporate Twattery'.

*Clickety*
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Fri 24 Feb 2012, 9:19, closed)

Being an IT geek who deals with this shit every day,
I totally feel your pain! The reason we give Directors idiot-proof passwords that don't change is because they are all idiots who kick up a shitstorm if they can't access the system.

And STILL the fucktards get it wrong!!!

Normal, intelligent people who actually do good for the company are forced to suffer, much like your good self. You have my sympathies, but it ain't going to change I'm afraid.
(Mr Fudge It shouldn't be illegal to have sex with an eagle, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 9:58, closed)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk
Mine gets changed every month. I did get the IT guy at HO to change the dialogue you get on the last day before it needs changing to - "Oi! Change your fucken password numpty!"
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Fri 24 Feb 2012, 12:31, closed)

I made a mistake.
I introduced opie.
One Password In Everything.
A simple system, more secure than Passw0rd$, which was the level of imagination exhibited by the higher echelons.
All they needed was the opie generator on their 'phones/PDA/computer.
Everything duly installed and tested. Staff trained.
Geeks loved it.
The I.T director wrote a scathing memo about how it was now too difficult to access the systems and wanted the systems returning to passwords, not some challenge/response system.
I got a right carpeting about wasting resources, and how expensive the whole rollout had been.
Opie was free, as were the generators . Two days of my time to implement and a day training others how to use it. Big costs...
While I was explaining this, I was running John The Ripper on my devbox on the old password files.
Password$, LetMe!nnow, 5alest34m! and my favourite, 4n4!53x! were the passwords of the IT Director,Sales director and a couple of other self congratulatory onanists.

I suggested the key cards. Too expensive.
Back to passwords it went. One bollocking about checking the strength of passwords later and a memo from me saying I felt I could no longer be held responsible for the security of the network if the attitude remained.
written warning ensued, so I fucked off elsewhere.
They were hacked to fuck and back within a month, and not by me, although I was interviewed. That company no longer exists.
Good.
( moonbadger Doesn't judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, Fri 24 Feb 2012, 14:10, closed)

I love working from home, its aces..
(evilneb nothing to see here, move along.., Sun 26 Feb 2012, 10:33, closed)