Want Stronger Passwords? Here’s How.

11 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Legal Technology, Passwords

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Hackers, iCloud, Kerry Davis, Macworld, Passwords, PCWorld, Splashdata

Make Your Passwords Harder To Crack, by Kerry Davis, PCWorld

There’s nothing you can do if hackers get into a database with your password in it, but you can still protect yourself for all the other worst-case scenarios involving hacking. In this video, we go over ways to make your passwords harder to crack. [Video found at PCWorld link.-CCE]

First, don’t make it easy on hackers by choosing a common password. Splashdata uses security breaches to gather ‘most popular passwords’ lists each year. The word ‘password’, number sequences, and other simplistic phrases or numbers fill the top spots. Also, don’t use your name, a password related to another one you might have on a different site, or a login name.

Instead, experts recommend using 15 characters, upper-case letters, better yet nonsensical words with special characters and numbers inside them.

Need help? Check out some free websites, like Strong Password Generator. This Macworld article on security in the iCloud age also has some suggestions on strong password creation.

Worst Passwords in 2013.

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in File Naming Conventions, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Office Procedures, Passwords

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Jared Newman, Passwords, PC World, Splashdata, Worst Passwords

The 25 Worst Passwords Of 2013: ‘Password’ Gets Dethroned, by Jared Newman, PC World

http://bit.ly/1ePbr3c

‘123456’ is finally getting some time in the spotlight as the world’s worst password, after spending years in the shadow of ‘password.’

Security firm Splashdata, which every year compiles a list of the most common stolen passwords, found that ‘123456’ moved into the number one slot in 2013. Previously, ‘password’ had dominated the rankings.

The change in leadership is largely thanks to Adobe, whose major security breach in October affected upwards of 48 million users. A list of passwords from the Adobe breach had ‘123456’ on top, followed by ‘123456789’ and ‘password.’ The magnitude of the breach had a major impact on Splashdata’s results, explaining why ‘photoshop’ and ‘adobe123’ worked their way onto this year’s list.

Fans of ‘password’ could reasonably petition for an asterisk, however, given that the stolen Adobe passwords included close to 100 million test accounts and inactive accounts. Counting those passwords on the list is kind of like setting a home run record during batting practice. Don’t be surprised if “password” regains the throne in 2014. . . .