August 6, 2009

Yet another reason to have good, strong passwords

One of my biggest problems at the Hospice I support is convincing people that trivial passwords are a big security hole. I remember one time a person had “99999999” as the password to the network! Lots of folks use a word and then put a number at the end. Then the increment the number each 90 days when they have to change the password.

Here’s an article by Becky Waring from Windows Secrets newsletter (published weekly) on a flaw in Gmail that allows another Gmail user to guess up to 100 times every 2 hours. Since accounts are free, hackers can own as many different accounts as they want…

Included are a number of “Do’s & Don’ts” about how to create good, strong and easy to remember passwords.

Please read this and take it to heart. It’s no exaggeration to say that we are under constant attack by very nasty folks out there….

http://windowssecrets.com/2009/08/06/01-Gmail-flaw-shows-value-of-strong-passwords/#story1

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