PC ProSchools – TechTalk

Do you have multiple user names and passwords? If you use the Internet, the answer is yes. According to Webroot’s survey, passwords are used by Banks, personal email systems and Facebook to safe guard your personal information. Many people use weak passwords and have poor password practices.

Webroot discovered that:

• 4 out 10 people share their passwords with another person.
• Many people use the same password to log on to multiple web sites, which exposes them to hacking and identity theft.
• 2 in 10 people use personal information like a birth date, child’s or pet’s name as a password. This information may be publicly visible on social networks like Facebook.
• About 30 percent of people write their passwords down and store them in a desk drawer.

XKCD illustrates the problem with reusing passwords.

How to make and use secure passwords

1. Don’t use personal information in your password. Personal information like a pet’s name, child’s name, your birth date or favorite color may be available on social networks. A criminal could use Google to find this information out and gain access to your accounts.
2. Make your password unique and easy to remember. Use a pass phrase. Most password cracking tools are sophisticated enough to use dictionary words and character substitutions like @. Think of a phrase or quote that you can easily remember, such as “When in doubt, reboot”. Take the first letter of each word, use a mix of upper and lower case letters and apply some extra characters. Your password could be “WidR!7GO”.
3. Don’t share your passwords. If your boss, friend, cousin or even spouse ask you for your password, say No. Once you share your password, you don’t know who else will get your password and what they may do with it. If you have shared a password, remember to change so that only you have the new password.
4. Use one password per site, computer and mobile devices. Don’t reuse passwords. It may be convenient for you to use the same password, but it makes it easier for a criminal to steal your identity when you use the same password for your online accounts.
5. Change your passwords periodically. Make a habit of changing your passwords at least once a year.
6. Use a Password Manager. A Password Manager can help you to store all of your passwords in a safe place.

Check the strength of your password

Use howsecureismypassword.net to test how long it would take to crack your password. Just enter your password and it displays how long it would take a desktop password cracking to break you password.

USB Drives or flash drives are useful for moving and data as well as malware. Malware is malicious software that is designed to install itself on your computer without your knowledge. According to Panda Security, about 25 percent of new malware is designed to spread through USB devices. They can infect your computer, cell phone, MP3 player, digital camera, external hard drives or flash memory. The convenience of these devices makes it easy for malware to spread quickly because they can infect your computer without you realizing it.

How does this happen? The malware uses the AutoRun feature on Windows to infect your computer as soon as you plug in the device. Malware creators use the autorun.ini to run malicious code which copies to your computer and then spreads to other connected systems.

What can you do to protect your computer?

1. Install USB Vaccine by Panda Security. USB Vaccine can block malware that spreads from USB Devices. You can use it to protect your computer or a USB drive.
2. Disable USB Ports on your PC. MakeUseOf.com shows you three options to disable the USB ports on your computer.
3. Update your virus protection software and operating systems to the most current versions. New updates contain security fixes that help to protect your computer from the latest malware.
4. Keep informed about new threats to your computer’s health. Tech News sites like Slashdot or Computer World
5. Stop using USB Devices. You could physically disable the USB ports on your computer to prevent someone from using them.

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A new report from Websense says that a staggeringly small 5 percent of user content is not a part of some malicious plot or hacker ploy.

Well I’m feeling paranoid.

The report also found that 13 percent of searches for trending news lead to malicious code such as Trojan viruses or spam sites.

During the second half of 2009 Websense Security Labs discovered:
• 95 percent of user-generated comments to blogs, chat rooms and message boards are spam or malicious
• 35 percent of malicious Web attacks included data-stealing code
• 58 percent of data-stealing attacks are conducted over the Web
• 85.8 percent of all emails were spam
• an average growth of 225 percent in malicious Web sites

Related Articles

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