We have entered a time of transition when it comes to password security. For so long we have relied on passwords to be our walls of defense for our digital security. We have set passwords for our computer log in, when internet banking began to boom we created passwords for our banks, for our online shopping we began to create accounts with passwords. As time as password we have reached a point in 2017 the average business employee has 191 passwords stored on their computer according to researchers at Lastpass (1). As the number of passwords that each of us have has increased we have attempted to simplify passwords in all the wrong ways. We have shortened our passwords, so they are easier to remember. In fact at the moment the average …show more content…
One of the innovative solutions I have seen for this is brewing in the cryptocurrency sphere, a technology known as blockchain which was originally created as a digital ledger for tracking cryptocurrency is being moved from that sphere to a new form of authentication technology
However, before we begin with looking at how we can shift to a whole new setup we must look at our current trends of password security and our current paths. We humans are habitual creatures that are use to the ways of the password. Therefore, before we throw it all a way and start over again it’s important we do some soul searching when it comes to our current systems. I believe the best way to get a better understanding of our current path is to look at what are our current major issues we are trying to solve.
One of the first problems we are having with our current password systems is the fact many people are using the same password at different websites. This is not just a new phenomenon either in face researchers have found “According to a new report, nearly 3 out of 4 consumers use duplicate passwords, many of which have not been changed in five years or more.” (4) Our password system is broken, we have a majority of the world putting their banking details, private details, behind a system that they can’t keep up with. However, we have become accustom to it and have reached a place to where we are not questioning if this is the best solution become we have a false sense of security that
All passwords should be promptly changed if they are suspected of being disclosed, or are known to have
Never misuse or use email for personal use. Never share your password with anyone. Sharing business records and or information with anyone outside the office can become a legal matter. All passwords should be changed on a quarterly basis. And the system will prompt you to do so. Always be accountable for your actions, follow the office guidelines when it comes to regular password changes and keep your supervisor\manager in the loop. When everyone has the same understanding, they know what to expect!
One of the other failures that the book presents us is the user’s weak password practice and how the intruder took advantage of this is to gain super user privileges and created several user accounts by gaining root privileges. All it takes is a one-time access as super user to establish his base into the defenders zone. This book describes how the intruder took advantage of brute force method to hack user accounts and password. Also, the intruder was smart enough to steal the password information file and even managed to encrypt all the dictionary words by using the same encryption algorithm and then compared those words with the stolen encrypted passwords file to find out passwords of user accounts. The scientists/ researchers at the laboratories who are not aware of such kind of exploitations made intruder’s work easy by having easy to guess passwords, never bothered to change the passwords from time to time or in fact did not realize the importance of having strong passwords in order to maintain and protect their research data in a safe and secure way. Even today, not all the users realize the importance of having strong/secure passwords and we come across such instances where intruders exploit users ignorance. (For example, Two years ago, before I enrolled in MS-CS program, I did not know how brute force attacks work or
Premier Collegiate School has a staff of thirty (30) faculty members, including administrative staff and teachers, and an enrollment of 300 students. The school maintains two (2) servers, one for student usage applications and software, and one for administration. Also, teachers have ten (10) computers located in the teacher’s lounge; and each administrative personnel have dedicated computers (10) at their disposal. Each student is required to provide their own laptop with wireless access (ITT technical institute, 2016).
The internet and online sites can be an open door for someone to commit identity theft. In order to combat this I need to continue to “create a strong password, by avoiding common or easy-to-guess passwords.” (Greene-Lewis, 2012) I use a password that contains both upper and lower case letters in addition to numbers and I often combine one or more words together to make it difficult for someone to guess my password. It is a bad idea to use common or easily guessed passwords, such as your birthdate or pet’s
Security is the most significant factor in authentication scheme. Our participants were enquired about how they often change their passwords and whether they have different passwords for different accounts, their answers were that they do not do that often; therefore, this would increase possibility of attacks. Here we briefly introduce some of the possible attacks which could break the Picture Pass Doodle system.
The speakers expands on the ideas that many home-users that have computer systems do not really know how vulnerable their computers are to the invasion of privacy due to having a weak password. The speakers expresses that having a weak password is a keen problem that needs to be addressed. The stigma with this issue will not go away because the author explains that “the current circumstances minimize engineering and support expenses by externalizing the cost of properly securing these devices” which ultimately place users in a dangerous situation (Carpenter, Dittrich, & Karir, 2015).
Bank of America is a multinational banking institute and one of the most trusted in the banking industry. This organizations sole purpose is to protect the customer’s confidentiality and assets by ensuring that data protection is the number one priority; however any organization when holding personal information can be a victim of data breach and BoA is not exempt. One of the largest risks BoA faces today is Mobile Banking. This consumer convenience is used by fifty percent of smart phone owners (Finney, 2014). Phishing is also threat to the banking industry; this strategy by hackers allows the extraction of consumer passwords and other sensitive information. Hackers targeting banking institution employees with convincing e-mails that fool them into clicking on malicious links-which ultimately compromise their credentials or
The analysis of 2,260 breaches and more than 100,000 incidents at 67 organizations in 82 countries shows that organizations are still failing to address basic issues and well-known attack methods. The (DBIR, 2016) shows, for example, that nearly two-thirds of confirmed data breaches involved using weak, default or stolen passwords. Also shows that most attacks exploit known vulnerabilities that organizations have never patched, despite patches being available for months – or even years – with the top 10 known vulnerabilities accounting for 85% of successful exploit “Organizations should be investing in training to help employees know what they should and shouldn’t be doing, and
Technology is constantly changing, leading us to adapt to its innovation. However, one aspect of technology has stood the test of time for a long time. Passwords as a form of authenticating and securing your digital accounts have not budged much. But with the rise of cybercrime, it seems the old way of doing things is finally having to pave way for something new: two-factor authentication.
One of the most important ways that biometric technology is impacting security lies within the confines of computer information systems. The government, the military, and large corporations need to have complete assurance that the data and information stored on their networks and databases are only available to users who have been authorized to view such material.
We are living in an information-driven world today that requires us to protect what and how we share this information. To access the guarded data or information we want to protect requires either a password or a pin. A password is a string or group of combined characters precise in length. Passwords and pins are suppositional, and more consideration is seriously required. They are the primary defense against intrusion. However, they can be easily captured and deciphered by cyber criminals. The security in this area is challenging due to the ineffectiveness of the creation of passwords and pins. Kirushnaamoni (2013) elicits that making logging in straightforward and convenient for users and trying to prevent password cracking is problematic. Cyber criminals will continue to persist and target the vulnerabilities in this area. Therefore, personally, financial, health and
Authentication is the only method which protects information or data of an individual or organization from a second party to access. Based upon the confidentiality of that particular data or information, the level of authentication depends. Now-a-days, all this data and information what we are talking about is getting digitized all around the world. For this digitized data or information to be secure, a proper authentication procedure must be set. This arise the need for an authentication secret which belongs to the category “Something we know” to come into picture. These secrets authenticate each secret holder as the authorized legitimate user to access their particular account. Technology is
A threat agent is the facilitator of an attack however; a threat is a constant danger to an asset.
As incidents of cybercrime are escalating at unprecedented rates with each passing day, you can't bank on the ancient defensive methodology of password protection alone. Professional hackers can break even the most difficult password using the sophisticated technologies.