Tag Archives: security

Online Safety – think about this long and hard…

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Are you overwhelmed with usernames and passwords for all the websites and apps you use? OR worse, do you use the SAME password for everything?

Do you think you are safe, that no one would want your information?
Think again.

If you are part of the “one password group” you really need to consider changing that practice asap. If you don’t, and your single password should somehow be compromised or stolen, someone can very easily take over your online life (and possibly even your life offline!). But how do you keep track of all your usernames and passwords? If you write them down on paper, what happens if that paper is lost or stolen?

Well let me tell you about a FREE little utility I have used for the past 5 years. It is called Password Safe. It allows you to create as many accounts and passwords as you need. It also allows you to group those passwords into categories (home, work, financial, etc…). Some people even use it to store offline information such as bank account numbers, entry passcodes, credit card numbers, you name it. Oh, did I mention that it is free? And instead of having to remember ALL your different usernames and passwords, you simply need to remember just the one.

OK, so now all your information is stored in this password safe, what if that program is broken into? Well that is where I advise you to create your own pass-phrase for your  program. Unlike a password that is normally 6 to 8 characters, a pass-phrase is normally 10, 15 or even 20 characters. It could be a line from a favorite song with a slight twist; you want to replace some letters in the phrase with odd characters that only make sense to you.

So for instance, the following song line: “If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane”, could become the pass-phrase “If w@ w@r@nt *ll cr*zee we wood go inS*ne”… At first glance, pass-phrases look difficult to memorize, but they really aren’t; especially if you are using it daily. The best part is that while an 8 character password can be broken quite easily with today’s fast computers, a strong pass-phrase might take months to decode using a computer and a brute force attack.

So today’s quick tip, try Password Safe (by the way did I mention, its free!)…
And no matter what, think hard about upgrading to pass-phrases instead of passwords.

To get Password Safe, click here (its free)

 

 

Is your website vulnerable?

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Was your website built over 2 years ago? Have any coding changes been made to it since then? Do you allow visitors to submit information to you via your website, and/or make purchases, or send you any sort of sensitive data? Do you have an administrative area on your site?

We know, a lot of questions… But there is a very good reason. If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, your website might be in danger. Over the past year hackers have dramatically increased their attempts to break-in to both large AND small websites (In today’s business environment, not a week goes by where there isn’t some story about a security breach related to data technology).

Internet years are even greater than dog years and because of that we all need to be extra vigilant with our own security features and functionality, to insure the safety of everyone who visits our websites or uses our custom software applications.

At Emaxed we offer our clients a Security Audit and Remediation Engagement to help. While our audits are not on the level of the FBI or CIA, they do provide a good cost/benefit approach for our clients’ small to medium size websites.

If your web service provider does not offer a similar service, give us a call (856-428-8038) to discuss, we would love to help.

No matter what, do not put security off until tomorrow, it just might be too late.