'Worst passwords of 2014' reveals that people simply don't care about security

a reply to: Jonjonj

Well you live and learn eh? And to be honest i suppose i could have been doing with a lesson regarding humility.

Cheers for the support all the same.

Personal pictures and videos are a horrible thing to lose, even worse to ransom them by way of encryption, such is the world in which we live!

originally posted by: Expat888

originally posted by: NotMoose
For my online bank account at B of A my user name is MasterChief94 and my password is real hard Halo5. I know the password coincides with the username but I have not been hacked yet.

Meh .. not enough in it to pay pub tab .. tell your boss you need a pay raise ..

There may not be enough for the bar tab, but you can buy the Juicy/Drinky sitting beside you a glass of watered down whiskey.

a reply to: andy06shake

I see. Thank you for your reply; it's helped a lot.
I've been sitting on the fence with this because this neighbor and his mother 'seem' to be very decent people. We also give them permission to use our garbage services free of charge also (which costs us 52.50 every three months). Our internet is slightly more than that, but monthly of course.

Thing is, this guy just randomly started mowing our grass a few yrs ago without being asked with his tractor (our yard is pretty big for a push mower-which is what we were using). He wouldn't accept pymt. of any kind, and both the BF and I tried to pay him the first several times, even putting it in his mailbox after he refused taking the cash, but the envelope was put back into our mailbox-lol.

Well-the BF and I talked it over and wondered what we could do for them. We don't leave the network open for just anyone in reach to have access, but we did give them the password to allow them access. They had told us that they had no cable, internet, etc., and so we figured this would be our way of doing something for them.

But......... ever since this started we've been having issues that we never had before, ie; randomly getting booted from and losing our internet access, Roku just stops streaming and says we have no connection to internet (& this gets very frustrating in the middle of a good movie). This very rarely happened before we gave them access, but what bothered me the most was getting a phone call (message on the answering machine) from the mother telling me that she was having a problem and in her research learned that we needed to change our settings. I was over the top irritated with the message & it takes a lot to piss me off.

Anyway-Since that ph. call, and even before to be honest, I've been wanting my BF to change the password. Even though he feels the same way that I do, he's reluctant to do this (a huge heart and all around good person). But with the reply you gave, along with the one after you (I'm sorry-I can't remember the name now), I think this will be the ticket.

So-thank you both, and I'm very glad I asked.

a reply to: Anyafaj

Thank you for sharing your story-incredibly scary!

Well, these folks seem like good people and I'm pretty sure they are, but I get a feeling sometimes that I don't really know them. There's something to that feeling I'm sure too, just in the few conversations I've had with her.. something strange there.

We've talked several times (the BF & I), about situations similar to yours, and the possibility of something happening to us.. simply for allowing them access. And as much as I hate the feeling of changing our PW and them not having internet, I just don't need the stress either.

It can't, or shouldn't be a matter of finances as according to her he brings in "the big bucks" (her words-not mine).

I'm in Cisco classes right now. The instructor had some funny questions for us yesterday. One of them was, "do you think security exists in this world". The answer was only obvious to a chunk of us, which surprised me. Some of these people truly believed it was possible. We can put up layers of deterrence, but no system is fully secure. It's an ideal never truly realized.

Another question was, "do you lock your car", I was surprised to be the only individual in the room who didn't raise their hand. My reasoning is rather simple. If you are willing to flaunt the need for protection, you must be willing to attract the attention which is guaranteed to come from the criminal mind's attraction to your need. The next question was, "which car is easier to get in, the locked car or the unlocked car". I think this is besides the point, depending on the context of the situation. The real question should be, "what kind of criminal would go for the unlocked, junked up ride over the rows of flashy, locked up ones?

Having said all of that, setting up layers of deterrence for your cyber goodies does make good sense to me. It's just not the same terrain as the real world. If you don't have some protection, you're bound to get messed with. If you're lucky, it'll be a mere grey-hat who will scare you into making your system more secure, though you will probably not be that lucky.

I'm not sure why people are still using passwords. If we're talking access to servers, then they should have encrypted keys, accessed only through encrypted tunnels. The issue then becomes where the keys are stored. If it's a big deal, don't keep them on your local machine, or at the very least truecrypt your drive. I'd rather keep them on a couple of usb keys, the backup being in case the inevitable happens while still in use... the drive fails. Keep a key on your person at all times, and another safely hidden. If absolutely necessary, get a safe or safety deposit box. If not a clever hiding spot should be good enough. There's no need for passwords where a key can be used.