Security passwords

[Duckster]

Watching breakfast tv and they are saying make your passwords more difficult with lots of differant letters and words, capitals and other bits and bobs chucked in. Also don't use the same password for differant shops, banks etc etc.
So if I use a differant password every time, where do I store them ? my computer/ iPad. If that gets hacked all me passwords are history. There is no way I would remember X number of differant passwords. So where do you put them.

I store mine in my head. Work in IT over several different contracts with several different governmental rules to passwords.

Let's be honest, it's not rocket science.

 

[Crazyface]

I store mine in my head. Work in IT over several different contracts with several different governmental rules to passwords.

Let's be honest, it's not rocket science.

Resisting the very strong urge to type in a naughty word to start this off, so you remember ALL of your passwords that you use? Repeat naughty word.

 

[HowlingGale]

It is exceptionally easy to have a unique and secure password for every site you visit.

Take the first 4 letters of the website and capitalise it, so for Golf Monthly that would be 'GOLF'. For amazon it would be 'AMAZ'. You get the gist.

Next make up a sentence that means something to you.

'I think the forum is very informative'

Take the first letter of each word and you get 'ittfivi'. Swap a letter for a special character i.e. swap the second 'i' for a '!'.
So you now have 'ittf!vi'.

Lastly get a 4 digit number that means something. Maybe a date e.g. 2912.

Put it all together and you have 'GOLFittf!vi2912'. A 15 character password that changes with every website you enter. I bet thats at least 7 characters more than the majority of peoples passwords and no need for dodgy online password wallets etc.

To make my life more secure I use a different sentence for my email.

 

[guest100718]

theres no real need for ultra complex passwords, all you do is end up with users having to store them insecurely becasue they cant remember them... .. any IT system worths its salt will easliy deal with a brute force attack. The bigger problems are social engeering, Phishing etc.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I have a great system.

I use a certain type of password generated for each site based on a system I came up with.

I use a feature about the site modified by my method, so shopping using one method, forums anoter, email another.

All I have to remember is the modifying method used and then apply the site feature to the method, viola, password! No need to remember it and every site is unique!

The security is in the method, I won't divulge it but you can take the time to come up with your own.

 

[sawtooth]

theres no real need for ultra complex passwords, all you do is end up with users having to store them insecurely becasue they cant remember them... .. any IT system worths its salt will easliy deal with a brute force attack. The bigger problems are social engeering, Phishing etc.

The longer and more complex the better for wireless network encryption because once the packets are sniffed the brute force, dictionary attack, etc is offline ie not connected to any IT system

 

[guest100718]

The longer and more complex the better for wireless network encryption because once the packets are sniffed the brute force, dictionary attack, etc is offline ie not connected to any IT system

Please expand....

 

[Duckster]

Resisting the very strong urge to type in a naughty word to start this off, so you remember ALL of your passwords that you use? Repeat naughty word.

Aye.

 

[sawtooth]

Please expand....

Someone hacking your wireless network will sit there and eavesdrop unbeknown to you.

Then later when the data has been collected they can attempt to break the encryption so that the data is usable. They do this offline and can take as long as they want and nobody will know.

Simple keys can be cracked within seconds, Sophisticated programs will test the key with every single word from the dictionary from A-Z, then will start adding numbers at the end etc etc

If your passphrase / preshared key is long, nonsensical, with special characters then it will take a prohibitive amount of time and computing power to break it. It can't be done , providing you are using the strongest encryption in the first place - WPA2 with AES

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Someone hacking your wireless network will sit there and eavesdrop unbeknown to you.

Then later when the data has been collected they can attempt to break the encryption so that the data is usable. They do this offline and can take as long as they want and nobody will know.

Simple keys can be cracked within seconds, Sophisticated programs will test the key with every single word from the dictionary from A-Z, then will start adding numbers at the end etc etc

If your passphrase / preshared key is long, nonsensical, with special characters then it will take a prohibitive amount of time and computing power to break it. It can't be done , providing you are using the strongest encryption in the first place - WPA2 with AES

Think you have to be realistic about the chances of getting hacked.

People will not sit in a car outside your house for hours on end, they will quickly move to easier unprotected networks or public ones. If you live in a big house with a big drive, you are pretty safe as a wifi hacker can't get close without getting noticed.

However if you live in a flat with possibly a large number of networks in a confined space, then a local hacker can take their time and has little chance of being discovered.

Generally people are more at risk from fake phone calls pertaining to be from Bank/ ISP/ police . Phishing emails / malware.

Have an anti virus, either paid or free, if you do online banking consider using Rapport if your bank supports it.
Be sensible with passwords, don't give them out, but they don't need to be ultra complicated, but be a bit "left field" with them.

If "james " from Microsoft phones up, hang up.

Don't open email attachments unless you know who they are from and even then, take care , they may have been hacked.

Don't visit dodgy websites , you will pick up rubbish and very possibly malware.

If your internet homepage changes, run a virus check and also download Malwarebytes (the free one and don't opt for the free trial)

If you are on Windows 10 and use a pin to sign into your Microsoft account, do not use the pin on your bank cards,
People do
People also write their PIN numbers on debit and credit cards
Doh

I'm sure I'll think of more ,

Be safe out there

 

[guest100718]

Someone hacking your wireless network will sit there and eavesdrop unbeknown to you.

Then later when the data has been collected they can attempt to break the encryption so that the data is usable. They do this offline and can take as long as they want and nobody will know.

Simple keys can be cracked within seconds, Sophisticated programs will test the key with every single word from the dictionary from A-Z, then will start adding numbers at the end etc etc

If your passphrase / preshared key is long, nonsensical, with special characters then it will take a prohibitive amount of time and computing power to break it. It can't be done , providing you are using the strongest encryption in the first place - WPA2 with AES

Which has no bearing on what I said.

 

[sawtooth]

Which has no bearing on what I said.

Sorry not sure what you asked for?

 

[sawtooth]

Think you have to be realistic about the chances of getting hacked.

People will not sit in a car outside your house for hours on end, they will quickly move to easier unprotected networks or public ones. If you live in a big house with a big drive, you are pretty safe as a wifi hacker can't get close without getting noticed.

However if you live in a flat with possibly a large number of networks in a confined space, then a local hacker can take their time and has little chance of being discovered.

Generally people are more at risk from fake phone calls pertaining to be from Bank/ ISP/ police . Phishing emails / malware.

Have an anti virus, either paid or free, if you do online banking consider using Rapport if your bank supports it.
Be sensible with passwords, don't give them out, but they don't need to be ultra complicated, but be a bit "left field" with them.

If "james " from Microsoft phones up, hang up.

Don't open email attachments unless you know who they are from and even then, take care , they may have been hacked.

Don't visit dodgy websites , you will pick up rubbish and very possibly malware.

If your internet homepage changes, run a virus check and also download Malwarebytes (the free one and don't opt for the free trial)

If you are on Windows 10 and use a pin to sign into your Microsoft account, do not use the pin on your bank cards,
People do
People also write their PIN numbers on debit and credit cards
Doh

I'm sure I'll think of more ,

Be safe out there

Yes risk is probably small but still real.

Hacker only needs a few packets so doesn't need to spend much time at all.

And zero chance of detection since they are only listening.