This may be sad, but it is a necessary thing to think about More than once recently I have been with a client having problems accessing an online account. The problems have been with email accounts, but this could arise with any online account that stores “recovery information”. What is account recovery information? This is …
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Tag:passwords
A brute force attack doesn’t need a Hulk
You can’t get into your account after a few failed password attempts. How come hackers seem to get in by trial and error? Most online systems do not have access to their users’ passwords, much less do they store them. Instead, when you create a password, an algorithm creates a string of characters and numbers …
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Passwords – with a twist
Here is a blog post of 600 words on password security Password security is one of the most important aspects of online safety. A strong password can protect your personal and financial information from hackers and identity thieves. However, many people still use weak or common passwords that are easy to guess or crack. In …
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Another online security risk?
Here’s something that might increase any feelings of paranoia that you experience around computing and cyberspace Researchers in the USA (Zoom on the Keystrokes: Exploiting Video Calls for Keystroke Interference Attacks) have shown that it is possible to analyse a recording of a video call (such as a Zoom, Teams, or Skype call) and use …
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A Moment of Inattention
Phishing emails can easily catch you unawares A few days ago, towards end of the working day, I checked my email and found a message from my internet provider. It said that I needed to log in to my account in order to upgrade the options on my account. I was a bit puzzled about …
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Using passwords for multiple accounts
Here he goes again, banging on about passwords Yes, I know, but here’s a statistic that I find a bit shocking, so I think it’s worth returning to the subject. According to recent research, FICO claims that over 25% of people in the UK use five or fewer passwords across all their accounts. I don’t …
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Create your own simple Password Manager
All you need is Word or Excel or similar In my last blog post, I found another reason for not re-using passwords. However, the problem a lot of my IT support clients complain of is that they just can’t keep track of multiple passwords – so they re-use the same ones. The best solution is …
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Passwords – another reason not to re-use them
Yes, I know I’m always banging on about passwords The simple fact is that this issue causes more problems than any other for my IT support clients. Therefore, I can’t resist telling you about something that happened a few weeks ago that offers yet another reason why you really shouldn’t use passwords more than once. …
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Stop your Browser from Trying to Save Passwords
Do you get hassled by your browser offering to save passwords? All major browsers can be configured to save the username and password of your account at the website you have just accessed. That’s all very well if: You don’t use a password manager (such as LastPass) to handle this for you and You trust …
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Passwords still cause untold grief
Do you have problems creating and remembering passwords? There’s no doubt that the single biggest issue that my computer support clients ask for my help and advice with is passwords. In almost all cases, I can not help retrieve lost passwords. All I can do is guide the client through the process of changing the …
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