Password security

It is important to have good security practices in times of identity theft, viruses and hackers. There are even groups and conferences for hackers. Take some basic steps to keep unwanted people out of the system.



1) Physical security: Do what you can do to physically secure your work area. Don't throw away papers or leave long on your desks, that contain sensitive information such as Social Security Numbers, Logins and Passwords. If you can't remember all your logins and passwords and must put them on a piece of paper, keep it in your wallet or purse and not in or on your desk. People tend to secure their purses and wallets fairly well. If you can, use a hint instead of the actual password.



2) Computer security: Log off. Make it a habit to log off of Colleague when it is not in use and please make sure you log off when you leave the office. Change your password often if you can. The most secure passwords are actually phrases converted into a single string. For example, if you like baseball, take the phrase "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" and then use the first letter of each word (and capitalizing and lower casing different letters) to make TMOttBG, now add some numbers TMOttBG86 and you now have a password that is resistant to a dictionary attack.



3) Question: The most insidious attack is the social hack (Think "Catch me if you can") where a con artist contacts an employee to get a piece of secure information and then repeats the scenario several times to different employees until they have all the information they need to secure a successful attack. We like to make people happy but question the type of information requested and if there might be a security breach if it is disseminated.