Showing posts with label Passwords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Passwords. Show all posts

Digital Spring Cleaning

4/24/2015 04:08:00 PM maze
It's spring (even though it sometimes feels like summer around here) and that means Spring Cleaning! While you're cleaning out closets and scrubbing all those hard to reach places - don't forget to do some Digital Spring Cleaning!

Just like your house, your digital devices can become cluttered and need yearly maintenance. This maintenance can be done any time, but there's something about spring that makes us want to get things in order.

Image source.

Reset Your Passwords

It can be tempting to just set a password and forget it, but not changing password over time can lead to compromised security on your accounts. It's a good idea to reset your passwords at least once a year. This includes email, online shopping and online banking. If you'd like tips on creating secure password checkout our blog post on the subject here: Staying Safe Online ... With Passwords

Update Your Computer

It can also be pretty tempting to just ignore all those alerts for updates to the software on your computer, but skipping those updates can sometimes mean security risks. Often software is updated to protect itself against malicious attacks. 


Make Sure Your Computer is Secure

Another way to make sure your computer is protected is to ensure that your antivirus and firewall are up to date. Don't have an antivirus and firewall? Get one! This is the simplest way to ensure that your information is protected. 


Delete Unnecessary Files and Apps

Files, programs and apps can use up the memory on your computer or device, so make sure you only have the ones you need! Take time this Spring to go through the documents, photos and apps on your smartphone and you might notice everything moves a little faster! And as an added bonus: the battery on your phone will last longer without all those apps running! 



Clear your Web Browser

Have you noticed your web browser, like Internet Explorer or Google Chrome, is moving a little slow these days? Believe it or not, browsers can get slowed down with files too. You can delete these unnecessary files and still not lose your data. You can find instructions for this on the TrendMicro website: Digital Cleaning Checklist.  You'll also find some other helpful times on that checklist. 



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Staying safe online ... with Passwords.

10/09/2014 12:33:00 PM maze
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month! Each week we will be posting tips on staying safe online. This week we're going to be talking about creating safe passwords.

Passwords are the key to keeping your information safe online. Without a strong password your email, Facebook and even bank accounts could be vulnerable.

There are a few key things to remember when dealing with passwords.

Passwords should be at least 8 characters long - the longer the better. It should also have a capital letter, symbol or number. Most websites require that passwords meet all of these requirements, but even if the website does not require it, you should keep in the habit of using passwords that include all of these elements.

Though it is tempting to make passwords easy to remember by using something simple like your name, children's name or birthday, these can make it easy to guess your password. Using a sequence of numbers like "12345" or "abc123" or even just using the word password can also make it very easy to guess a password. SplashData.com releases the worst passwords used every year. Below is a graphic showing the worst passwords of 2013. These passwords are considered the worst because they are so easy to guess.

image via splashdata.com
So what should you use for a password? Try something that is easy for you to remember but hard to guess. Or if you must use something like your children's name add a capital letter or symbol. Some security experts recommend using a common word that is misspelled or even an inside joke that only makes sense to you. 

If you do need to keep a written log of your passwords, you can! With almost every website seeming to have different rules for passwords it can be difficult to keep up with all of them. Writing the passwords is a great way to remember the passwords. The important thing is to keep that record out of sight. Make sure the log of passwords cannot be seen from the computer - keep it in a drawer or file! This will keep visitors from seeing your passwords. 

Sometimes even the most random password cannot keep your account safe. My Facebook page was 'hacked' once, even though I used a non-English word that wasn't even spelled correctly! It is important to monitor your accounts for unusual activities. This includes keeping an eye on bank and credit card statements and looking in your 'Sent Mail' folder every once in a while to make sure you recognize all the emails that weren't sent recently. If you find something unusual, the first step is to change your password immediately. Most email and social media services monitor your account for you and force you to change your password if anything unusual occurs. However, it is always a good idea to be aware of what is happening on your account. 

For a fun way of remembering the rules to a secure password, online security company Thycotic offers this:


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