So How Do You Choose a Secure Password?
The main reason people choose insecure passwords is that they are easy to remember.
So how can you create a secure password that is easy to remember?One simple method is to think of a phrase you like and then use the first two letters of each word (or any other pattern you like) as the password. For instance; the phrase
"mary had a little lamb" could be come the password:
mahaalilaThis new password is easy to remember and once you type it a few times you'll get used to using it. If you add a number, a symbol, or use a mix of capital letters and lower-case letters the password will be virtually unbreakable!
Is Your Password Insecure? And Should You Care?!
Yes, and Yes! If you are like most people your passwords are very insecure. And as a Realtor® you should care and indeed, you need to care. Part of your fiduciary responsibility to your clients is to keep their personal information confidential and private. Emails and files on your laptop, home computer or office computer contain very sensitive materials. Your employer also expects and needs you to keep their proprietary systems, software and procedures safe and secure so that they (and you!) can maintain a competitive edge.
Read the following report and see how your current password stacks up.
MILLIONS OF OFFICE WORKERS TURN ON THEIR COMPUTERS EVERY MORNING –
AND PROMPTLY REVEAL THEIR INNERMOST SECRETS.
Many Britons regard their password as a "personality test" - and give everything away in a few letters, according to a new survey.
The poll reveals four distinct categories of people when it comes to passwords.
· Most users (47%) fall into the 'Family' group
o choosing their own name or nickname or the names of their partners, children or pets for their login.
· The 'Fan' type (32%) comprise users who
o choose sports stars, cartoon characters, pop stars, favourite teams or film stars.
o Most-used keywords include variations of David Beckham, Homer Simpson, Darth Vader, Madonna, Keanu Reeves and Manchester United.
· The 'Fantasist' category (11%) comprises more "self-obsessed people" who
o pick words like 'Sexy', 'Stud', and 'Goddess'.
· The smallest group - the 'Cryptics', with just (9%) of the total - are also the most security-conscious.
o They select passwords which mix lower and upper case letters, numbers and punctuation - to create intricate, 'cryptic' passwords.
The findings emerged from a survey of 1,200 people from 30 companies throughout the UK by the Internet domain name registry CentralNic.
1. FAMILY-BASED: 570 (47.5%)
These comprised:
1. User's name or variation thereof 315 55.3%
2. Child's name 117 20.5%
3. Partner/spouse's name 88 15.4%
4. Pet's name 35 6.1%
5. Date of birth 15 2.6%
2. FANS: 384 (32%)
These comprised:
Sports stars 128 33% (*)
Cartoon/fictitious characters 109 28.4% (+)
Pop stars 44 11.5% (#)
Sports teams 43 11.2% (£)
Movie/TV stars 39 10.2% (@)
Other celebrities 21 5.5% (&)
(Top 5 choices shown)
Most popular sports stars (and variations thereof):
1. David Beckham 48 37.5%
2. Michael Owen 27 21.1%
3. Ryan Giggs 24 18.75%
4. Roy Keane 11 8.6%
5. Paulo Di Canio 8 6.25%
Cartoon/fictitious characters
1. Homer Simpson 40 36.7%
2. Darth Vader 31 28.4%
3. Superman 21 19.3%
4. Bart Simpson 8 7.3%
5. Gandalf (Lord of the Rings) 4 3.6%
Pop stars
1. Robbie Williams 14 31.8%2. Madonna 8 18.2%3. Britney Spears 7 15.9%4. Elvis Presley 6 13.6%5= John Lennon 2 4.5%5= Freddie Mercury 2 4.5%
Sports teams
1. Manchester United 26 60.5%2. Chelsea 5 11.6%3. Arsenal 4 9.3%4. Liverpool 3 6.7%5= Spurs 1 2.3%5= Leicester 1 2.3%5= Manchester City 1 2.3%5= Fulham 1 2.3%5= Bolton 1 2.3%
Movie/tv stars
1. Keanu Reeves 11 28.2%
2. George Clooney 10 25.6%
3. Brad Pitt 6 15.4%
4. Cameron Diaz 5 12.8%
5. Al Pacino 3 7.7%
Other celebrities
1. Delia Smith 4
2. John Ketley 3
3. Jacques Cousteau 3
4. Anne Widdecombe 2
5. Tony Blair 1
3. FANTASTISTS: 132 (11%)
1. Sexy 37 28%
2. Stud 29 21%
3. Goddess 20 15%
4. CRYPTICS: 114 (9.5%)
This category mainly comprised passwords made up of letters and numbers.
These people are the most security-conscious and would not make their passwords available, despite the fact that the survey was entirely anonymous.
Prof Helen Petrie, who specializes in human-computer interaction and the psychology of new technology, said: "The computer password has become a kind of 21st Century Rorschach Inkblot Test.
"The results of the survey were divisible into these four different categories.
"The Family users appear to be people who are not particularly computer-literate but who have incorporated occasional computer use into their everyday life.
"These are people who have strong family ties, and choose passwords which symbolize people or events which have emotional value to them.
"The Fans are more likely to be younger users and these passwords reflect the continuing popular cultural obsession with football and footballers.
"I was surprised by the fact that every single entry in the 'sports team' sub-category was a football team.
"Fans make lifestyle choices when it comes to passwords - they choose famous people who will be readily identifiable to their peers.
"Fantastists prove the theory that there will always be some people who always manage to get the subject round to sex.
"Traditionally these have tended to be male but these results would suggest that quite a few in this category are female.
"The Cryptics are most likely to be what we what would regard as 'geeks' - these people opt for 'clinical' non-guessable password choices. They are the least interesting but the safest."
Stephen Dyer, Chairman of CentralNic, who commissioned the poll, said: "We wanted to learn a bit about the choices people make when it comes to choosing passwords.
"So many people tend to subconsciously believe that their password has to sum up the very essence of their being in one word.
"This makes it potentially very simple indeed for anyone to access their computer or secure internet sites.
"For instance, if you are looking at a guy whose desk is plastered with pictures of David Beckham and Manchester United, it could be a simple process of elimination to hack his password.
"Although it may be more fun to have Homer Simpson as your log-on, it would be much safer to combine letters and numbers to create a unique, secure password."
The most common type of password 'attack' comes in the form of 'Social Engineering' - when a cracker, posing as technical support, contacts someone in a different department within a big corporation, says that there is a computer problem and simply asks for the employee's password.
Other methods include:
Dictionary Attack
The cracker downloads a computer programme which allows him/her to condense an entire dictionary and then run it through the password box, attempting millions of alphabetical entries. This programme can be downloaded from the Internet.
Brute Force Attack
Using a more advanced programme, The cracker runs millions upon millions of permutations which comprise letters and numbers.
Reprinted with permission. CentralNic.com
Business Card Scanner
I was a little hesitant to spend $250 when I purchased a CardScan Executive last year. I've used it for over a year now and I have to say that I love it and this little device has become an important part of my prospecting/networking system.
I'm constantly amazed at how well it interprets contact data off of an endless array of business cards and when it doesn't get something quite right it is very easy to correct.
As a realtor, you are constantly networking and meeting new prospects, business partners, vendors and others who hand you a business card which you promptly either lose or file away. Perhaps you even jotted down an important fact about your new potential customer on the back of their card. How frustrating is it when you then can't find that little card just when you need it!
Here's how it works: Say you go to a networking event and bring home 12 cards. When you get back to your desk simply feed them into the CardScan. It processes all of the cards and extracts the contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses. It also keeps an image of both sides of the card, so those notes you took are always there.
You can categorize the person, sort and search, and most importantly, easily synchronize the data with your CRM system (such as Act, or Outlook) or even with the phonebook in your cell phone.
Well worth the money in my opinion. You can find out more at
cardscan.com
