{"id":32607,"date":"2019-12-12T17:04:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T22:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=32607"},"modified":"2019-12-13T13:33:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T18:33:34","slug":"business-report-passwords-are-a-necessary-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2019\/12\/business-report-passwords-are-a-necessary-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: Passwords Are A Necessary Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Vicki A. Marking, marketing director, PrimeLink Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BY VICKI A. MARKING
\nHere\u2019s a quick test. What do these seemingly random alphanumerical groupings have in common?
\n1. 123456
\n2. password
\n3. 123456789
\n4. 12345678
\n5. 12345
\n6. 111111
\n7. 1234567
\n8. sunshine
\n9. qwerty
\n10. iloveyou
\nThat is a list of the top ten passwords used in 2018. Recognize any of these? If you don\u2019t, you\u2019re not necessarily in the clear, but your chance of becoming compromised or hacked is far less than someone who uses one of these passwords. If you do recognize these, you\u2019re certainly testing your luck.
\nThese days, creating and remembering passwords has become increasingly more challenging. If we had only one device that required a password, we could probably manage it quite easily.
\nBut with every device we use, most programs we need to do our jobs, and sites that require you to change your password every few months, it is estimated that the average person must memorize up to 191 different passwords. No wonder we often choose to take shortcuts.
\nThe problem is over 80 percent of hacks are due to compromised credentials, otherwise known as stolen username and password information that are often traded on the Dark Web. In fact, in one month alone in 2018, Microsoft blocked 1.3 million attempts to steal password data, which would have led to dangerous phishing attacks and other hacking attempts.
\nThese harrowing statistics are why you hear the recommendations:
\n\u2022 Never use the same password twice (IT managers report 73 percent of all passwords used are duplicated in multiple applications, opening up multiple avenues for attack).
\n\u2022 Never write down your passwords.
\n\u2022 Never share your passwords with anyone else.
\n\u2022 Never use real words or known information about yourself in your passwords.
\n\u2022 Avoid commonly used passwords (50 percent of all attacks involved the top 25 most used passwords).
\n\u2022 Pay attention to that last stat: 50 percent of all attacks involved the top 25 most used passwords. See what I meant when I said if you recognized anything on that list, you\u2019re testing your luck?
\nFollowing all these rules and regulations, you\u2019ll end up with passwords that are about 16 characters long, impossible to memorize, and, unfortunately, are still completely hackable (much more difficult, of course, but where there is a will, there is a way). So, what do we do now?
\nPassword Manager
\nThe first shortcut is a password manager. You can store all your passwords in one place. This makes remembering all your passwords much easier, but there you\u2019re not out of the woods yet. The password manager is also protected by a password. If you\u2019re utilizing a software like this, make sure that this password is especially complex, so that hackers aren\u2019t even tempted, especially in the case of a brute force attack. If possible, turn on multi-factor authentication, especially on your password manager.
\nMulti-factor authentication
\nMany sites utilize multi-factor authentication. This extra layer of protection connects to your phone, email, or other authentication source, rather than relying solely on a password. We recommend enabling multi-factor authentication wherever possible. The only caveat here is make sure your secondary authentication source is equally secured with a strong password. No sense in double protecting yourself with a wide-open source.
\nRandom Password Generators
\nThese sites come up with secure passwords for you, but are typically a random jumble of letters, number, and symbols that are darn near impossible to memorize. If you\u2019ve got a strong memory, this might be a good starting point, but if you\u2019re like most of us, this may be more challenging than it\u2019s worth.
\nCraft the best password
\nUse a \u201cpassword phrase\u201d in place of random letters, numbers and symbols. Create something that\u2019s easy for you to remember, but has no meaning to anyone else.
\nThere\u2019s no time like the present to get started and change your easy-to-hack passwords to something safer, because it\u2019s always better to be safe than sorry.
\nMake sure to change them regularly. Never write them down, especially on a post-it note stuck to your computer. But most of all, make passwords an important part of your life. Don\u2019t consider them a nuisance or a thorn in your side. Challenge yourself to be more creative each time you create one. Beat the hackers at their own game by making your password too time intensive to try and crack, and you\u2019ll reduce your chance of your information showing up on the dark web.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY VICKI A. MARKING Here\u2019s a quick test. What do these seemingly random alphanumerical groupings have in common? 1. 123456 2. password 3. 123456789 4. 12345678 5. 12345 6. 111111 7. 1234567 8. sunshine 9. qwerty 10. iloveyou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":32608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nBusiness Report: Passwords Are A Necessary Evil - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2019\/12\/business-report-passwords-are-a-necessary-evil\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Report: Passwords Are A Necessary Evil - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY VICKI A. MARKING Here\u2019s a quick test. 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