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Body Language Password glut got you down? Hackers scoff at password systems, anyway. Is biometrics the answer?

By Melissa Campanelli

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Back in the 1980s, I think I had one password-my ATM PIN number.OK, maybe I had a gate code number, too. Today, I must have 100passwords-who knows?

It seems as if a growing number of sites demand user names andpasswords-usually with special syntax that keeps me from using thesame pair everywhere. Then, I'm supposed to change them allperiodically for security's sake.

That's a joke. Research company Frost & Sullivan analystJason Wright reminds us that password systems are relatively lowhurdles for hackers breaking into our LANs, Web sites or e-mailsystems. The average hacker-more often than not, an employee-needonly run free password-cracking software like Lophtcrack against afairly obvious set of user names (such as Mike_Hogan, Mike Hogan,Mhogan and so on).