could passwords be too pervasive?

originally found at the art of trolling

people have become accustomed to the idea of passwords unlocking access to special things like their bank accounts or their tree forts, but perhaps some greater thought needs to be put into how passwords work so that social engineering schemes like this one won't fool people quite so easily.

passwords are shared secrets, both the giver and the receiver must know them in order for them to work. if you don't have any reason to think the receiver will know the password other than some strange guy on the street saying they will then probably you should expect them to not know the password you're giving them.