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Look at your monitor for a moment; is it covered in sticky notes? If it is, subtract 10 points from your total score. Now gaze over the sticky notes. Do any of them have personal information on them? Credit card numbers, social security numbers, PINs, VINs, passwords, irrational fears from your childhood that still haunt you, and your waist size all qualify. Take off another 10 if any of those things are on your post it notes, and 20 more if the stickies actually indicate to which accounts and or sites that the passwords apply.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Post-Its are one of the most secure ways to affix notes to electronics, what choice do I have?" And you're wrong for thinking this. Now, before I get any angry letters from the generous folks over at 3M, let me state that while the Post-It Note is a wonderful product, and I am in no way encouraging people to stop purchasing them. Not the case. However, Post-Its do very little in the way of information security. And it may surprise you to know that putting another sticky note on top of the original in an effort to shield its contents isn't enough either. So just stop doing it.

The majority of Americans who write personal information on adhesive paper are doing this with internet passwords. This same majority may frequently subsequently find themselves puzzled as to how their coworkers got into their EarthLink accounts. Most passwords written and affixed to monitors are there because they're too difficult to remember on their own. But difficult or not, unless you're going to lock the sticky note in a safety deposit box which you then weld shut and express mail to the Urals, keep it off the Post-It.

Complex passwords can be remedied in two ways. Firstly, you could change the password to something a little easier to remember. Surprisingly, there is a middle ground between your last name with a "1" after it, and the UPC code off of a Coke. Here's a simple, easy to follow, brilliantly designed breakdown:

Too Simple: brown1
Better: 73brown73
Too Complex: 9b7r0o6w5n

Author's Note: None of those are my password, so don't bother trying

Unfortunately, some work environments don't allow the easier-to-remember passwords, or they don't allow anything other than randomly-generated alpha-numeric gobbledygook. In a situation like that, your best bet is to write down the password and find a sneaky place to hide it. You could write it in the margin of a book you keep in your desk, or write it on the bottom of your shoe. Tattoo it to the nape of a coworker's neck, or paint it on the underside of your chair. Be creative. Just stay away from the monitor.

Learn more about this author, Andy Paulo.
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