Passwords

I’ve Been Thinking… About Passwords

Hearing that the Louvre’s surveillance password was literally “louvre” reminded me of the first password I ever saw in a workplace.

It was 1996. My dad, Dub, was the maintenance director at a hospital — back when “cybersecurity” mostly meant not leaving your Post-it on the monitor.

I was volunteering and stopped by his office one day. He wanted to show me how high-tech his job was, managing all the work orders on this big beige computer he proudly called his “terminal.”

He told me, “I’ve got a four-letter password you’ll never guess. It means a lot to me.”

So I walked up, typed R-O-C-K, and the screen unlocked like I’d just hacked the Pentagon.

He looked at me, genuinely stunned.

“How’d you guess that?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “You’re a guy in a band who loves rock music.”

And that was it. The entire hospital maintenance system — secured by the power of dad rock.

Back then, passwords weren’t complicated. No capital letters, no numbers, no symbols.
Just pure faith that nobody else on Earth would think to type your favorite thing.

Honestly, it was a simpler time.
Dangerous, sure — but simpler.

Stay curious. Stay human. And always, be kind.