Password

Who’ll Guard The Guardians?

June 26, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Can you imagine this worst case scenario? Your password manager just got hacked. That is the trouble with a strategy, let me put all of my eggs in one basket. On the other side, what other real options do we have? They say, do not use the same password for all of your various devices.

OK, we got it, but who is going to remember dozen of different passwords. Now, you see what is the big problem here. When it comes to the password managers, we expect from them to be bulletproof in terms of flawless cyber security. When they fail, what are we supposed to do?

Passwords are going to be our most annoying problem for quite some time. We are literally helpless. Every now and then, you hear about the more or less successful innovations in this field. There are some experts, who are suggesting us to use Emoji symbols as a password alternative.

Can you believe it? How about body implants? Can this work for you? Do we really need to trade our privacy for an adequate password? The more we talk about passwords, the more frustrated we eventually become. Should we use the word password for our only password?

Emoji Password

June 25, 2015 — Leave a comment

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OK, we got it. We are not rocket scientists, but we know for sure that a password based on Emoji symbols is actually a picture-based security measure. It makes a perfect sense, doesn’t it? This new type of password is supposed to be a tougher challenge for hackers.

For what is worth, thanks to Emoji, we have more combinations at our disposal to play with. On the other side, we could not help ourselves noticing one obvious practical problem. How we are supposed to remember our new Emoji password? This is going to be a little bit harder, than it seems.

If you want a strong password, then you will have to use quite a few Emoji symbols. Very different ones. Right? Which eventually brings us back to the very beginning of our story about the bullet-proof passwords. Do we have to use a special program to memorize our Emoji passwords for us?

We are pretty much convinced that some reckless users are the perfect match for the category called the helpless-cyber-security-cases. Someone will just put six or eight smileys in a row. And, that will be it. The Emoji version of a password for the password.

When Experts Walks In, Security Walks Out

June 20, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Here is the thing with the cyber security experts. They talk too much. When you ask them to give you a couple of life saving tips, this is what you get as a result. The very first thing you are going to hear is that you should always walk on the safe side of the cyber cliff. What is that supposed to mean?

Use only legitimate software. Avoid suspicious websites. Do not do anything foolish while being online. Seriously? It is just like they are referring to the regular users of the notorious Silk Road. What else do these brainiacs have to share with us that can improve our security?

We are supposed to forget about all those ridiculous passwords, which include among other hard to believe “crown jewels” of pure ingenuity, such as password, 123456, 123456789, iloveyou, and similar. Do you feel safer already? What is the moral of this story about the top cyber security secrets?

Well, either these experts were in the bad mood mode, or we, the users, are helplessly naive and reckless. Maybe, we can really strengthen our cyber security position, with a few simple steps, we fail to apply over and over again. Maybe, the image in our cyber security mirror is too scary to look at.

How YouTube Reveals Your Passwords

May 27, 2015 — Leave a comment

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Every now and then, you stumble across something, which can be best described as the cyber-security-for-dummies. In some cases, the advice you can hear is unreliable and even a ridiculous one. However, the video we had a chance to see on YouTube was a little bit disturbing for our taste.

If you want to check it out yourself, all you have to do is type: “How to reveal a hidden password in the logging page”, or something similar. It really looks convincing, and this is something that worries us the most. So, how does it work? Here it is, if you are too lazy to look for a video.

You should use the right click on your mouse and choose inspect element option in the empty password field. Then, in the developer’s menu, you should replace “password” with “text”. According to what we have seen, this is supposed to work. We will try it ourselves, that is for sure.

What are the possible solutions for this surprising bug, if we could describe it as such? The very first thought that crosses our minds is to make sure your computer does not end up in the wrong hands. On the other side, should we cancel the inspect element option from our browsers?

123456

March 18, 2015 — Leave a comment

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There are almost 100,000 Gmail accounts, which have or use the identical password: 123456. Can you believe it? What is wrong with all these people? We should not forget the reckless guys, who just cannot get enough of the timeless classic: password. Some guys were a little bit smarter. How exactly?

They have included some modifications. How about “p@ssword” or “passw0rd”, for a change? We just cannot get enough of these hilarious security flaws. What needs to happen to make us change our harmful habits? We keep complaining about the dangerous cyber world we live in, don’t we?

On the other side, we fail to include even the most basic security measures. And, we still have the nerve to hope for the best. This is a perfect disaster scenario for any field in life, not only the cyberspace. You can rest assured that hackers all over the world are praying for more of these “passwords”.

So, what is the moral of our cozy disturbing story? The epic journey to the very next level of your magical cyber security begins right now with the simplest step you can possibly imagine or do? How hard could it possibly be? Which reminds us to change the password for our blog. We have to go.

Don’t Click!

January 14, 2015 — Leave a comment

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As simple as that. And yet, you just cannot believe how successful a phishing season can be on Facebook. We are helplessly reckless and surprisingly impulsive. We tend to follow calls for help or action with no serious consideration. As a result, our passwords are being offered on a hacker’s plate.

So, how does this malicious system work in the real life? First, you get a heartbreaking message that you have to follow a certain link so your friend can do this or that. You say to yourself, how hard can it be? No harm in that. So, you hit a button, and the next thing you know you are on a phishing website.

It looks like a Facebook official page, but you can rest assured it certainly is not. And, you disclose your password with a hacker behind this entire operation just like that. We do not have to say to you what is going to happen next with your Facebook account, do we? So, did you get the message?

Before you click, you should blink, at least twice. Otherwise, there is no security system in the world, which can save you from the phishing net. Right? Before you accept someone’s friendship request or follow this link request, you should really give it a serious thought. How hard could it really be?

Identica Problematica

October 22, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The stupidest thing you can possibly do on the Internet is to use the same user names and passwords for the different online platforms and services. Then how come we keep repeating it all over again, with the self-destructive stubbornness? We are either too lazy or unforgivingly ignorant about the cyber security.

Finally, someone has decided to do something about it. What exactly and how efficiently? Well, the Facebook has decided to turn the first page. If it turns out that you are using your Facebook account user name and password for some other web service, you will get a fair warning to change them accordingly.

How the Facebook knows all of that? You should relax. If Facebook knows it, then you can rest assured more than one hacker knows it, as well. It is always better to change them all before any real damage is being done. On the other side, do not worry about your privacy. Facebook works for you, in this case.

Do we have to repeat it all? User name and password twins on the Internet are not a smart choice. Do not be lazy and at least create different passwords, if you do not have enough patience to play with the different user name combinations. Our hats off to the Facebook for this thoughtful move.

Payment Networks – Invaluable Lessons

July 23, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The troubles we have with our passwords and proper identification required for numerous online services can be overcome based on the experiences from one of the least likely fields in this matter. We are talking about the different payment networks. What they got to do with the identity protection challenge?

Well, for what is worth, the payment networks had the same problems we are facing now. We all know that these systems rely heavily on credit cards. The basic presumptions about the identity protection are absolutely the same. At some point in time someone has figured out that credit cards have to be protected in order for the entire system to work.

This does not mean that we have to hire rocket scientists to solve our password puzzle. All we have to do is to closely evaluate the invaluable experiences and solutions left by the top security experts for some of the most successful payment networks. In our case we pay with something far more valuable than our money.

We trade with our privacy. So, let us do our best to ensure that this is a fair deal where both sides of the process are equally protected and safe from any harm. We should look for more appropriate analogies around us. You never know where you can find a solution for your problem. Right?