Personal Password Security

Phishing Attacks on Facebook Users Point to Efforts to Mine Login Data for Profit

People...You are going to have to change your computer security habits to not become a victim of computer crimes!!!

"Two-thirds of US consumers surveyed use the same one or two passwords for all web sites they access that require authentication," said Gregg Kreizman, research director at Gartner.

Steps to Make a Habit to Mitigate Your Risk!!!

According to the article the following best practices should be learned and followed to prevent cyber crime.

1. Use complex passwords and unique ones for each site. My method? Pick one string of letters and numbers and then add the first letter from the website’s name. For example: if my password “string” were “abc123$” then my Facebook password would be “Fabc123$”.
2. Maintain an up-to-date browser and operating system. Use security software, such as Norton Internet Security 2009. Check out Web safety services such as Norton Safe Web, where a community of Web users collaborates to report dangerous phishing and malware sites.
3. Double-check you’ve arrived at your destination. When clicking over to Facebook (or any site) make a habit of looking at what appears in the address line. You might not always be able to spot a fake site, but in the case of this particular scam, it’s obviously not www.facebook.com.
4. Be suspicious of requests to enter your account name and password.

I will recommend a 5th step.

5. Google "Password Managers" and seriously consider using if you have multiple online accounts especially financial or medical records.

Read more on research performed about computer users bad password practices:

Poor password practice putting users at risk

Julius Clark, MBA CISSP, CISA
Information Security Professional