Oklahoma City Computer Repair

Do you use the same password for everything, or do you use a different one for each website? How do you remember your passwords? Do you have them on a sticky next to the computer, or have you created a spreadsheet to track them? Perhaps you’re using a software program that helps you organize and remember them. A few months ago we included a story about password security that laid out how long it would take a hacker to crack (or break) your password. I imagine that a lot of you use a password that is A) all lowercase and B) 6 characters or less.  Your password can be broken in 5 minutes or less.

In December of last year, Gawker Media (the company that owns LifeHacker and several of the internet’s most visited blogs) was hacked, and all their user information was stolen. Names, passwords, email addresses, all stolen by hackers. In the following days, they prompted their users to now only change the password on their site, but all ANY OTHER WEBSITES THEY USED THE SAME PASSWORD ON. They knew that most web users have a tendency to use the same password over, and over, and over again.

So here’s a very simple tip that will help you to not only ensure you have different passwords, but that can also remember them.

1. Start with a strong core password. 8 characters long, including both upper and lowercase letters, and at least 2 numbers. My example for this article will be PopeYe65. Your core password is critical to the “being able to remember your password” part so memorize it! It can be whatever you want, but I encourage you to be creative with your use of capitalization and number placement.
2. As you create passwords on new websites you visit, you simply use your new core password and add the first letter of that website to the front (or end). For example. If I were creating a new account on Amazon.com, my new password for that site would be: APopeYe65. If I were creating an account at Facebook, it would be FPopeYe65. It’s as simple as that! You take the name of the website A for Amazon, F for Facebook, etc… and add that letter to your core password!
3. As you visit websites that you already use, go to your account information and update your password to ensure continuity and security across the entire web.

Your new password would take 20,000 years to crack using current technology. That’s a little better than 5 minutes, right?

Adobe Acrobat Reader is one of those programs you just can’t help but hate. It’s a required piece of software for most people, but it opens computers to enormous security problems. It’s one of the “Big 3″, the top 3 pieces of software that we ALWAYS update on clients machines because of security vulnerabilities (the other 2 are Adobe Flash Player and Java for those wondering). Adobe has been fairly good lately about releasing updates and patches to plug security holes, but those of us in the IT industry have been waiting for version 10 when their next level security would be included. As of the end of last week, Reader X (version 10 for those not raised on Roman numerals) has been released, and should bring with it those much needed security enhancements.

I encourage to head straight over to Adobe’s site and install it. If you’re a little gun shy about installing or updating the software yourself, you might want to take advantage of out Annual Computer Checkup special. It includes thorough updating, scanning, and fine-tuning.