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1 Simple Step Towards Improved Customer Satisfaction for Web Hosts
Most of your customers are not unreasonable sort of people. They understand that problems crop up and mistakes do happen. I don't know about you, but I know that I am a MUCH more reasonable customer when the company I am purchasing services or...
Burning Bridges is Bad, But Firewalls are Good
When you signed up for that ultra-fast DSL or Cable connection there was probably one very important piece of information that your ISP failed to mention. By accessing the Internet via a high-speed connection, you have tremendously increased...
How to Shop Online Safely
Online shopping has now become very popular. Besides vast information at your fingertips to help you learn more about products and services before making a purchase decision, you can compare prices with a few clicks whether you go for comparison...
It's War I Tell You!
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Things Newbies Need To Know
Be Cautious - Be cautious about anything you read on the web, in an email or on a newsgroup. There are so many scams and frauds that the best thing to do is ignore all of them entirely until you have enough experience and knowledge to be able to ...
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Passwords or Pass Phrase? Protecting your Intellectual Property
Passwords or Pass Phrase? Protecting your Intellectual Property
Much has been said on the theory of password protection for files, computer login, and other network access. In the past we used a combination of letters, special characters, and other techniques to try and prevent unwanted or unauthorized access to our computers, resources, and networks. A new theory on passwords is emerging that may help us remember our access codes, be more secure, and generally keep hackers and thieves out of our networks.
A password is a combination of words, letters, and special characters that only the user knows, allowing access to a computer or other information resources. As humans we have a large number of codes and numbers we need to remember every day – such as the key lock on our apartment entries, national identification numbers, automobile license or tag numbers, telephone numbers – it is a large and confusing suite of items we need to memorize.
When selecting a new password or pass code for access to a computer system, most of us understand how difficult it is to remember complex codes, and thus we select something already know n to us, such as names, birthdays, national identifiers, or other known items, and then place a number or character in front of the name or number thinking it is secure. This is easy to understand, as most of us simply do not have an ability to instantly recall large numbers of complex codes.
In a worst case we simply write down the complex code on a piece of paper, and leave it in a desk, our pocketbook, or in many cases taped to the front of our computer monitor.
However, to a hacker this makes access to your network or computer much easier, at they generally only have to learn a couple things about you, and add a few numbers to the front or ending of your personal data – you would be surprised how often this grants access to computers and networks. Ad some good “cracking utilities” to the
hacker’s suite of tools, and you can understand the threat.
PassPhrases are a concept that will help us create more secure, easy to remember safeguards for our computer and network resource protection. A passphrase is a selection of words and/or numbers that are 15 characters or more in length, and are easy for us to remember. A couple examples of a good pass phrases are:
•igotodalaieejdaily
•shehasbeautifulhair
•surfinginhawaiiisgreat
According to Mark Minasi, a noted security consultant, a 15 character pass phrase will require a cracking program the following number of computations to try and break a 15 character pass phrase:
•15 lowercase letters = 1,677,259,342,285,725,925,376 possibilities
•Try a million a second, it’ll take 531,855 centuries/years to break the code
As you can see, this is a pretty good level of security for your resource.
Another concern with passwords is if you forget or lose the password, and are using a utility like Microsoft’s Encrypting File System (EFS), you run the risk of losing all access to your important files if you require a hardware reset of your password. All EFS encrypted files are linked to your login profile, meaning if you encrypt a directory or file with EFS, and you do a hardware reset on your computer, those files and directories are lost FOREVER.
For Microsoft Windows users you can now also use spaces within your pass phrase, however we would not recommend embedding spaces in your pass phrase, as that actually does allow a cracker better access to getting your code – it may help them crack it in 100,000 years rather than 250,000!
About the Author
(About the Author – John Savageau is a managing director at CRG-West, responsible for managing operations and architecture for several of the largest telecommunications interconnect facilities in the US, including One Wilshire in Los Angeles savageau@pacific-tier.com/www.pacific-tier.com)
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| Computer hardware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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| Reg Hardware: Product News and Gadget Reviews from The Register |
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| A complete illustrated Guide to the PC Hardware |
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