Edward Snowden says your password should be MargaretThatcherIs110%SEXY

The recent hilarious interview between John Oliver and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has served up another juicy titbit.

Check out this clip (which wasn’t broadcast on TV) of Snowden offering advice on passwords.

Watch the video which Last Week Tonight with John Oliver posted on YouTube.

Edward Snowden on Passwords: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

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Very funny.


Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

4 comments on “Edward Snowden says your password should be MargaretThatcherIs110%SEXY”

  1. Anonymous

    Thanks for posting these, very funny and I'd have probably missed them had you not.

  2. Hitoshi Anatomi

    I think I can remember "MargaretThatcherIs110%SEXY", but not more than several of similar ones Another problem is that I do not think I can remember the relations of which passphrase is used for which account. At the end of the day I would either have to re-use the same passphrase across many accounts or or have to carry around a memo with the accounts and corresponding passphrases on it..

    Biometrics that have to depend on a password cannot be a solution. We urgently need a successor to the character password, which should be found from among the broader family of the passwords and the likes.

    1. Can't remember your passwords/passphrases for different sites?

      Use a password manager like LastPass, 1Password, KeePass etc. :)

  3. snowraptor

    LOL that is hilarious. And is it just me or is that interviewer David Mitchell's separated-at-birth twin?!

    I predict there will soon be as many people using "MargaretThatcherIs110%SEXY" as there are using "correcthorsebatterystaple" (https://www.xkcd.com/936/)

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