Many of our passwords are laced with metaphor, snark, and even pathos. One lovely way to refer to them is as "one-word poems." One of the first things that sprang to mind for Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the world's largest financial-services organisations, when the planes struck the twin towers, killing 658 of his coworkers and friends, including his brother, was passwords. This may appear cruel, but it wasn't the case. Lutnick, who had taken the morning off to accompany his son, Kyle, to his first day of kindergarten, was stunned, as was practically everyone else caught up in the events of that day. He was, however, the person most responsible for ensuring the company's survival. The greatest threat to that survival became clear almost immediately: no one knew the passwords for hundreds of accounts and files that were required to reopen the bond markets in time. Microsoft's technicians were able to get what they required. Within two days, the company was back in business. Cantor Fitzgerald's passwords were "weak" because of human sensitivity, yet it was ultimately saved by it.

Yogita Parihar

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