Password Mania
It won’t be long and the local university will be offering a bachelor’s degree in password management. Usernames and passwords are everywhere. You need a password for your cell phone, voice mail, email account, website memberships, email subscriptions, and a dozen other places. How can you remember them all!? Most people resort to the using the same passwords for all situations – and usually something quite easy to remember (birthdates, pet’s names, etc). This ultimately can put them at risk.
If you care about protecting yourself and your data – whether it is email, ATM, websites, or voicemail – it is important to remember a couple things.
Most any password is crackable. Given enough chances a hacker or a hacker’s program can guess any password. A password-cracking program can initiate millions of guesses in a short period of time and it will eventually guess it. There are a couple ways to minimize the chances of a quick guess.
- Don’t use real dictionary words, names, dates, or numbers
- Use passwords that combine letters, symbols, and numbers (ie. op$w91 rather than ‘office’)
- Change your passwords on a regular basis
- Avoid using the same password for everything
How to keep track of all these passwords?
There are a variety of programs available to store your passwords. For example, AnyPassword (www.anypassword.com). This great little free program provides a quick and easy way to store and reference your passwords. You also will want to keep a printed copy of your passwords. AnyPassword provides an easy export option for printing.
Additionally, if you use WindowsXP, setup a login password. This will diminish the chance of a hacker gaining remote access to your computer and compromising your passwords.
Bottom line – we all need a solution before we have to spend all day memorizing our passwords.
-Doug DeVries
www.Equine-Design.com
doug@equine-design.com
