Last week, we talked about how tens of thousands of webmail accounts were compromised and wrote another post with 7 tips to protect yourself from phishing. In this post, we will focus on some tips and steps that will help with managing and strengthening passwords.
Strengthening Passwords
May I help myself in?
Security professionals build many layer of security to protect a system from being compromised, yet the one problematic area that remains to represent the weakest point is the users’ passwords.
Users tend to be bogged down by how many passwords they need to manage. Hence, they tend to rely on simple passwords, that they often write down in accessible places. They also tend to use the same password for every kind of account!
A worker usually has to use 6.5 different passwords each of which is used for four different accounts/sites. Trying to keep all those accounts up to date and having a strong password for each one of them is a tough task. We’re not going to discuss the obvious: at least 8 characters long, use alphanumeric, lower-case & upper-case password with special characters, but we’ll make having such a password easier to remember.
In order for you not to be the weakest link in computer security, and to better live up to that task, we provide you with the following tips.
Tip 1 Speak English Very Best!
English words can be broken by dictionary attacks, where they use words from the dictionary to attempt to match them to the password. This attack is more efficient that brute force attacks, which attempt every possible alphanumeric (and special characters) combination. So using “proper” English words in the password will make it easier for your password to be compromised by this type of attack.
To counter this simply substitute some English letters with symbols and numbers. A “3″ for an “E”, and “$” for an “S” and so on. Don’t stop there: misspell words, take out vowels from them or even reverse the word. These are simple methods to keep the password memorable and to further strengthen it against such attacks. [read full article >>]
What is the real definition of the word “guru”? How many real gurus, on different topics, could there possibly be? And what is this new emerging trend of having people describe themselves as gurus in their biographies and resumes?
The exact definition of a guru is: “is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and uses it to guide others. A guru is literally a preceptor who shows others knowledge (light) and destroys ignorance (darkness)”. This definition lead me to think of all the so-called gurus I bump into on Twitter and other social media sites and of how annoying it can be to find hundreds of self acclaimed gurus with no proof or record of their expertise!
The Xara Art of Zeb
Therefore, I decided to compile a list, with examples, of the top ten things that I hate about fake gurus:
1995 left-overs, and yes, that's a "guru's" 2009 site!
- False Credit: In order to be a real guru, you must possess certain characteristics, education and knowledge. So-called gurus are self acclaimed, which means they give themselves credit they most probably do not deserve! An example is a “tech guru” on Twitter with 72 following, 62 followers, a site which looks like a 1995 leftover with no traffic and around 414 updates about random things that do not relate to technology!
- Inaccurate Advice: A guru is supposed to provide his audience with advice, tips and information which is accurate and even more-so, life-changing! Falsified gurus will do the exact opposite, providing downright wrong advice that might get their audience into trouble! Check out the Financial Gurus Hall of Shame!
- Lack of Humbleness: A real guru is humble and selfless; helping his followers excel, learn more and be more just for the mere pleasure of watching them grow. Self-acclaimed gurus ruin that image by boasting about who they are and what they do! [read full article >>]
