Considering the fact that I have been in the IT field since the time I moved from diapers to undies, I can say with authority that 95% of users I have dealt with lack the basic concept of what a password should be.
I have seen users write down their passwords on sticky notes and put it on top of their monitor, and when asked why is it there, the standard reply is ... "oh so that I don't forget it," but they fail to think that it is easy for others to read also, unless of course the person reading is blind.
Don'ts For Online Passwords
- Your password is your key to something, just like you would not trust someone you don't know with your house keys or car keys, you should not trust anyone with your password.
- Your dog's name or the name of your first born son, daughter, granddaughter, grandson is not a password.
- Writing your password on a yellow sticky or pink or blue sticky and putting it on your computer monitor is a dumb thing to do.
- Even dumber thing to do is to write on the sticky your username and password.
- Don't yell your password for your IT guy from across the hall, he might be hard of hearing but not deaf.
- Don't give out passwords to anyone who calls you to say that he is an IT guy and needs your password to fix something. 98% chances are that the guy on the other end of the line is a hacker who is employing "social engineering" to get unauthorized access to systems.
- By the way did I tell you that your pets name or your kids names are not passwords? They are signs for hackers which say "Come Access My Systems"
- Don't use auto store of username and passwords in your browser or on your computer. If your machine gets stolen, the thief will have access to everything private of yours.
- Your password should be a minimum of at least 6 - 8 characters and MUST be a combination of letters and words. Even better if it has a special character ($%*^#) in it.
- Your password should never be easy to guess or something that can be cracked easily. Basically, your password should not be a dictionary word.
- NEVER EVER give your password away to ANYONE.
- DO NOT loan your passwords to anyone. No matter how good a friend the person is, you never know what damage the person can do with your password now or at a latter date.
- Change your passwords every 60 days if not every 30 days and do not repeat them.
- If you do have a memory issue and want to write your password down, write it on a small piece of paper and keep it at the bottom of your purse. Never write the userid and password on the same piece of paper.
Please remember that most of the security compromises that take place are due to lack of or weak passwords. Always have a strong password and follow some basic ground rules for making one.
PS: NEVER WRITE YOUR ATM PIN NUMBER ON THE BACK OF YOUR ATM CARD....DUH!!!!
1 comments:
Password is the best way for protection.
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