I’m not sure why this article from Slate, The Internet’s 25 Worst Passwords, and What They Say About You, popped up in my blog and article feeds today. It reminded me, though, of some of the clients that we work with and how they treat the password field. Short, easy to remember lousy passwords – and they’re all the same for every website, social platform and web service. Aren’t we all reading the horror stories of compromised accounts and information?
Listen Up Already and Don’t Get Hacked
It drives me a little batty. We’re not an internet security company and don’t provide security advice but I’ve been around computers and network systems for awhile now. I’ve had conversations with software and network security professionals that have changed my own behavior. Some of these talks were a little scary with regard to how vulnerable we are especially if we don’t do a few easy things to significantly decrease our odds of being hacked.
Security of stored digital information is relatively new. There are services available that permit you to enter your email address and learn “Which Of Your Accounts Have Been Hacked.”
Manage Your Information S.M.A.R.T.
When we engage a new client and have responsibility for online properties with passwords and login information we use a Google spreadsheet, Client Master Credentials Template. Not only does it serve as a single source of information for projects, it fosters sharing and trust. It’s not recommended as a solution; Usually it ends up being a tool to recommend using better passwords.
Deloitte consulting recommends using the S.M.A.R.T. approach – Strong, Multi-character, Avoid associations, Random, and Tools. Strong means long. The longer the better and the more difficult it is to crack. Multi-character means just that. Use everything that the site allows. No birthdays, pet names, child names -nothing associated with your personal life.
The best thing you can do overall is not even know your passwords yourself. Use a password management tool like Lastpass or SplashID that also has the capability of generating random passwords. The convenience of these tools is that they can easily integrate with your favorite web browser. Once you’re logged-in the software will take care of all your sign-ons with varying degrees of security that are easy to customize. You only remember the one password.
Need some help? Let us know and we’ll point you in the right direction.
