I perceive that most people are not as secure as they need to be with their passwords. When it comes to generating truly random, secure passwords, the GRC password generator is a good, free resource. Use it to generate a secure WEP key for your home, school, or business wireless network. You can also use it to create passwords for other purposes, but of course the problem is that the passwords are so long and random they are impossible to remember or guess. (That is why they are termed, “secure.”)
Another alternative, although not as secure, is Hashapass. Using a parameter and a master password you supply, the site generates a more secure password that you can use for a particular website or application. If hackers don’t know or guess you are using Hashapass, and are not able to guess both your parameter and master password, it is unlikely that they’ll be able to readily guess your password. Is this a perfect solution? No, I don’t think any reasonable solution would be considered even “close to perfect” by security experts, but this option is better than using the same password over and over again.
I think the biggest vulnerability most people have when it comes to passwords happens when they access the Internet from a public, unsecure WiFi hotspot or a shared, public Internet connection like one found at a hotel. Anyone connected to the same network and running a packet sniffer can fairly readily see any plain text message traffic you are sending over the Internet with your computer. Many passwords, including cached ones used by email and other programs, send your login credentials in the clear. For these reasons, it is a good idea to:
- Use different passwords for different things.
- Change your passwords periodically.
- Use a secure tunneling technology like VPN to access the Internet from public WiFI or shared Internet connections like those found in hotel rooms.
I am wondering if using Tor when you connect to the Internet provides as much security password-wise as a VPN tunnel? If so, it may be easier than going with a solution like Hamachi, which was highly touted last December by Security Now Podcast gurus Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte.
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On this day..
- Amazing Animated Space Films: Wanderers and New Horizons – 2015
- Lessons Learned Publishing to Lulu, Amazon and the Apple iBookStore (July 2014) – 2014
- Two Rising Stars In Africa: eLearning and the Kuali ERP – 2013
- Kobo eBook Reader from Borders – 2011
- John Medina’s #iste11 Keynote on YouTube: Brain Rules – 2011
- Critical thinking is more important than ever amidst Internet-based denier propaganda – 2010
- Streaming Netflix videos in the car over 3G – 2009
- U.S. Economy: A car wreck in slow motion – 2009
- links for 2008-07-05 – 2008
- Capturing offline copies of YouTube videos – 2007