I have written before about the importance of strong passwords, well here is an example of what can happen when you don't:
On March 30, Eastern Europeans hacked into and gained personal records of over 780,000 people. Why? One technician used a weak password. Because of this, the hackers could retrieve all of this information including social security numbers. If this massive amount of data can leak out through something as "secure" as medical records, consider all of the other sites you are providing personal information.
Lessons to be learned:
--Use strong password
--Never trust your data in others' hands
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/utah-breach-shows-vulnerability-of-health-records/
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
The Holy Password
On The Register I read about Reverend James Langstaff recommending his members use bible phrases as passwords. He recommends taking the first letter of every word in the phrase as well as the book and chapter and verse number. He believes that this will not only make his congregation safer on the web, but can help them remember bible phrases. I would venture to say he is right.
The combination of apparently random lower and upper case letters and numbers will help increase password security as long as the password is longer than 8 characters. The reverend's advice for example in John 14:1 is to take "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." and transform it into the password "LnyhbtybiGbaimJ14V1" This is a pretty secure password because it is very long, contains no words, and has a combination of upper and lower case letters. However this password could become more strong by adding special characters. This is my only addition to the good reverend's advice. Taking the same bible phrase the password could turn into "Lny<3bt:ybiG,baimJ14:1" This password would be virtually impossible to crack.
If memorizing biblical verses is not your deal, you can extend this advice to any passage from your favorite book. Just remember to be greater than 8 characters, lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters. Also, do not use the same passwords for secure sites (eg your bank or school) for less secure sites (eg sign up here to win a free iPad)
The combination of apparently random lower and upper case letters and numbers will help increase password security as long as the password is longer than 8 characters. The reverend's advice for example in John 14:1 is to take "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." and transform it into the password "LnyhbtybiGbaimJ14V1" This is a pretty secure password because it is very long, contains no words, and has a combination of upper and lower case letters. However this password could become more strong by adding special characters. This is my only addition to the good reverend's advice. Taking the same bible phrase the password could turn into "Lny<3bt:ybiG,baimJ14:1" This password would be virtually impossible to crack.
If memorizing biblical verses is not your deal, you can extend this advice to any passage from your favorite book. Just remember to be greater than 8 characters, lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters. Also, do not use the same passwords for secure sites (eg your bank or school) for less secure sites (eg sign up here to win a free iPad)
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