Passwords are our personal firewall against cyberattacks. Almost everything we do online involves a password; email, bank account, blogger, google analytics all require passwords. Even news sources like WSJ.com and entertainment sites like fandango. Are you into online shopping? Amazon.com, eBay.com, Zappos.com? We may have 10-20 sites to access with user names and passwords. I myself could easily name 42 of my favorite sites which I use frequently that require a user name/password. Sometimes we create accounts with our usual passwords in sites we may not even trust and most of the time forget we visited.
Most people use one password for everything. If access where to be gained for one account, then all online accounts (i.e. facebook, eBay, zappos, amazon, nyt.com) would be compromised. Experts suggest long complex passwords and ask use to check how strong they are. Is it possible to remember a unique password for all individual sites? [and along with that also remember the password limit for all specific sites, i.e. 4, 8 or 12 characters password limit]
Test your password with Microsoft Online Safety
is it strong?
Microsoft recommends the following when creating passwords.
When creating a password avoid using:
- Dictionary words in any language.
- [Words in all languages are vulnerable]
- Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
- [Words in all languages are vulnerable]
- Sequences or repeated characters.
- [Examples 12345, 22222, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty)]
- Personal information.
- [Your name, birthday, driver's license, passport number or similar information]
So I suggest having different tiers of passwords.
So microsoft recommends long passwords and a list of what to avoid. But This doesn't really help the people who have 10-40 different sites to access. So I suggest having different tiers of passwords. Place your websites into importance of information contained within and then bundle the passwords or the idea that you used to create a password. For example, the password for wsj.com and nyt.com can be the same ; But don't use the same password for eBay, Amazon, your email or bank account. Everything you use the same password you lower the security of your personal information.
So microsoft recommends long passwords and a list of what to avoid. But This doesn't really help the people who have 10-40 different sites to access. So I suggest having different tiers of passwords. Place your websites into importance of information contained within and then bundle the passwords or the idea that you used to create a password. For example, the password for wsj.com and nyt.com can be the same ; But don't use the same password for eBay, Amazon, your email or bank account. Everything you use the same password you lower the security of your personal information.
Sources:
- http://viathread.blogspot.com/2010/06/ww3-is-not-what-you-may-think.html
- http://www.zappos.com/
- https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx?WT.mc_id=Site_Link
- http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/create.aspx
2 comments:
I am so used to Firefox saving my passwords on my personal laptop, that when I am at work or on a different computer I am often unable to access my accounts without the annoying password recoveries.
I do agree that having different tiers makes sense, but don't forget that there is always a combination of user name and password, and sometimes web sites require at least a capital letter in your password, which could throw your whole system off.
It would be interesting to find out just how much time we waste recovering our user ids or passwords...and those password hints, I sometimes need a hint for the password hint.
Very interesting article because we never realize how essential passwords are, how much we use them and how they try to protect us. They protect us from cyberattacks but also from other people who may want to access your information. For example, someone may want to access your email account to get your information but if they do not know your password they would not be able to do that.
I also admire how some banks take extra steps of caution to protect its customers. Not only do they ask for passwords but if you use a computer that you did not first register with it will ask you secret questions that you alone should know in order to access the account. This gives me comfort in doing online banking. Security is an important aspect, especially in the financial industry, and the strategies used by these banks today to help protect their customers is very efficient.
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