“Bill Burr is the man who wrote the 2003 NIST manual that recommended password changes every 90 days. He now regrets creating that guideline because it just encourages people to make small alterations to weak passwords (“password1” to “password2″).”

Bill Burr is the man who wrote the 2003 NIST manual that recommended password changes every 90 days. He now regrets creating that guideline because it just encourages people to make small alterations to weak passwords ("password1" to "password2"). is generating buzz in the tech community. We examine what's known so far and its potential impact.

Source: reddit

Analysis

Bill Burr's reconsideration of his own password guidance highlights a fundamental flaw in earlier security thinking. Frequent forced changes without regard for password strength often backfired, leading to predictable patterns like "password1" to "password2". Modern best practices now emphasize creating long, unique passwords and using a password manager. The real takeaway? Security advice must evolve with empirical evidence, and users need tools that make good practices effortless.

bill