Passwords seem easy enough to contrive, a few letters, maybe a number thrown in to make you feel more secure. Well, news flash — you likely are not secure. Well, maybe YOU are, but the vast majority of those online are clueless. The same password for multiple sites? Sure that makes things easy. Five characters? Check. Easy again.
These are the practices that World Password Day was designed to put an end to. In fact, the site claims that an astonishing 90 percent of all passwords are vulnerable to attack. A sad, but not unsurprising number. Just recently we saw a list of the most used passwords, thanks to the misfortune of Target. Gems such as “12345” and “password” were among the most used.
The website offers advice and also some help, such as a Password Blaster and information on the recent flaw discovered in OpenSSL, known as Heartbleed. Moreover, users can enter a potential password into the algorithm, which is run by Microsoft, to get information on if it is secure. The data is rated, beginning with “weak”, and increasing from there.
It’s a rather sad state of affairs when a special day must be designated for this purpose, but it’s for the good of the internet in general, and Microsoft, Acer and Intel, among others, are participating. Do yourself a favor and pay attention when you setup accounts, and help friends and family be more aware.
