COMPUTING Computing
Heather Betts from Dartmouth Computing HELPS US STAY TECH SAVVY
Change Your Password to a “Passphrase” T
he topic of password security has been spoken about continually for the past two decades.
However, passwords continue to be a problem for every business and computer user. How Do Accounts Get Hacked? there are two ways a hacker can decrypt, or “crack” your passwords. the first is “brute force”. this requires generating every possible combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, encrypting each one the same way, and checking if the result matches your encrypted password. For longer passwords, this can be very time consuming. the faster option is a
“dictionary” attack, which means checking the encrypted password against the encrypted results of a large dictionary of known words or names. so, passwords that are words are significantly easier to decrypt than random strings or phrases. Hackers Know The Tricks Password-cracking software has evolved to the point where it can automatically check for words in which letters have been replaced by numbers. numbers and punctuation at the end can be ignored as well (forget adding the month or year). Checking all these possibilities may take longer, but today the distinction is seconds or minutes, not hours or days. Hackers love it when you reuse your
passwords. nothing will make Jane Hacker happier than cracking the password to your home PC, then finding it opens your email account and Facebook too.
Hackers also love it when you don’t change your passwords - it makes their job much easier. Use a Passphrase not a Password Changing your passwords on a regular basis is a simple thing that you can do to help protect yourself. traditionally, we have created one or two-word passwords containing a numbers and punctuation, like ‘P@55w0rd!’. oddly, in most cases there is no longer anything that limits us to a single word. most modern software allows for very long passwords and it’s more secure to use a passphrase, or a short sentence. a sentence is easy to remember, contains spaces and some punctuation, and can easily contain a number if
required. Better still use “two step authentication” if it’s available. this means using a combination of something you know (such as your password or pin number), and something you have (a token, mobile phone, your fingerprint) to authenticate you. Checking a text message on your mobile phone to log into Gmail provides a drastic increase in your security in exchange for a small inconvenience.
Heather Betts, Dartmouth Computing 01803 834377 |
heather@dartmouthcomputing.com For more free hints and tips and for our latest offers, visit our web site at
www.dartmouthcomputing.com
Need Help With Your Computer? Training - Repairs - Upgrades
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Dartmouth Computing 01803 834377
heather@dartmouthcomputing.com
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