Computer Password Safety

Protect Your Passwords and Protect Your Computer from Hackers

By Linda M. McCloud

You probably know by now that you don't have to be a genius to use a computer. They aren't as complicated as we once fear. That being said there is one thing that still remains true about computer use. It is easy for a hacker to get inside our files and steal or corrupt our systems. Yet, you don't have to be fearful. You just need to take some simple steps to make sure your computer is safe from corruption.

First, think about the passwords you use. You use passwords all over the internet from opening your email to opening different web pages. Most of us always use the same password for everything. But is your password unique? Here is a sampling of the most popular passwords according to a British website called Modern Life is Rubbish: News & Views of the Modern Interweb. What should you do if your password is on the list? Change is immediately.

1. 123.

2. PASSWORD. No, it isn't clever. The survey said about 1 in 250 people uses the word password as their password.

3. Liverpool. Remember this was a British survey. So if you live in Columbus, don't use Columbus as your password. On the same line, do not use the name of your local or state sports teams. It is just too obvious.

4. Letmein. Say it out loud. Let me in. Funny? Maybe. But not original.

5. 123456. It's too obvious. If you want to do numbers, don't do them in order.

6. qwerty. Look down at your keyboard. Its the six letters on the top row, below your numbers. Everyone has the same looking keyboard.

7. Charlie. Never choose a name of a close love one, your husband, wife, child, mother or anyone really close. If someone who knows you tries to hack into your computer, or someone who all ready has a short profile on you, it would be easy to guess.

8. Monkey. Why is this popular? It just seems to pop into everyone's head.

9. Arsenal. Again, this is a popular British password. It stands for a popular soccer team. In the US, this would go for Giants, Cowboys, any popular sports team, especially the popular ones in the area where you live.

10. Thomas. This is another popular name that keeps being used. Again, don't use names of close love ones (this means your pets, too) or even their birth dates or your anniversary. This would be too obvious to people who know you. 

So what should you choose as your password? Something you can remember. Something that is unique. A password with numbers and letters is a good way to go, especially a combination of 6 to 8 characters. You may even want to change your passwords every few months, just to make sure your security is even stronger.

You should also always have a built in security system installed and turned on each time you go online (Norton Anti-virus is a good one), especially if you allow windows to remember your passwords.

McAfee SiteAdvisor Issues Quiz, Challenge: Can You Spot the Sites That Spam?

Fail the Quiz and Be Inundated With Spammy E-mail

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE), the global leader in intrusion prevention and security risk management, today issued an online quiz along with a challenge to Web users: "Can you spot sites that cause spam?" The 8-question quiz presents consumers with pairs of Web sites and asks them to judge which of the two sites is likely to guard their e-mail address. The stakes for failing are high: When McAfee registered at each of the unsafe sites in the eight pairs, it received more than 2,500 e-mails each week.

The quiz  "McAfee SiteAdvisor Spam Quizuses data from McAfee® SiteAdvisor^TM" which has pioneered Web safety by testing and rating, on an ongoing basis, nearly every trafficked site on the Internet. The examples in the quiz are taken from more than 6.4 million Web sites which McAfee SiteAdvisor has independently tested and rated for Web safety issues including spyware, viruses, exploits, online scams, and of course, spam. McAfee SiteAdvisor tests a Web site's e-mail practices by registering with a unique, one-time-use e-mail address. The pairs of sites used in the quiz come from common categories including free games, e-cards, online sweepstakes, credit cards, scholarships, online dating, jokes and petitions.

Registering on the eight sites flagged as unsafe resulted in 2,697 e-mails per week in McAfee SiteAdvisor's test inboxes. That's 140,244 e-mails per year. Signing up at the worst e-mailer offender in the quiz resulted in 1,075 e-mails per week. The vast majority of e-mails received contained highly commercial content from third parties.

"This quiz was designed to deliver two very important messages. The first is that spam remains a significant problem. A single bad decision can render an e-mail address all but unusable," said Chris Dixon, Director of Product Strategy. "The second is that on the Web today, there is almost always a safe alternative for popular activities. The extra information provided by McAfee SiteAdvisor's test results can help users make smarter click decisions."

The quiz is available at http://www.mcafee.com/spamquiz.

McAfee SiteAdvisor software, which is available as a free download at http://us.mcafee.com, clearly identifies potentially dangerous sites that have engaged in "social engineering" attacks such as spyware, adware, spam, browser attacks and online scams. The easy-to-use software summarizes these findings with intuitive red, yellow and green icons that empower online users to decide what to browse and what to avoid.

About McAfee, Inc.

McAfee, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California and the global leader in Intrusion Prevention and Security Risk Management, delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that secure systems and networks around the world. With its unmatched security expertise and commitment to innovation, McAfee empowers home users, businesses, the public sector, and service providers with the ability to block attacks, prevent disruptions, and continuously track and improve their security.www.mcafee.com

NOTE: McAfee is a registered trademark of McAfee, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. McAfee Red in connection with security is distinctive of McAfee brand products. All other registered and unregistered trademarks herein are the sole property of their respective owners.

SOURCE McAfee, Inc.

Melissa Rehon: The birds, the bees, the blogs

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 17, 2006

It's time for parents to sit down and have "the talk" with their teens. No, not that talk -- I'm referring to the one in which parents and other guardians teach their kids to be safer online. The kids need to hear -- from you -- the rules about not talking to strangers or revealing personal information online.

Don't think you can make a difference? A recent Teen Survey by Cox Communications, in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, found that when parents and other guardians talked to their teens about Internet safety, the teens' exposure to potential threats declined and they made safer online decisions.

Fewer teens whose parents or other guardians have talked to them "a lot" about online safety have an instant-messaging (IM) name or pictures of themselves on the Internet, compared with teens who have not had this talk. And more teens who've had this talk than those who haven't ignore messages from unfamiliar people, refuse to reply or chat, block unknown senders, and report such attempted contacts to adults.

We discussed these statistics and many more during Cox's Teen Summit on Internet Safety, held in June, in Washington. I was one of 10 teen delegates sent to the summit.

Here's my advice for parents and other guardians about having "the talk." Don't overreact. Your children need to feel they can tell you when they receive an unsolicited message, or if someone makes them feel uncomfortable while online. Seventy percent of teens receive unsolicited e-mails and other messages, but only one in five will tell his or her parents or other guardians.

Why? We agreed that teens don't tell because they're embarrassed by the message they received, and afraid they will be blamed for it. Have "the talk," hold your kids accountable, but stay calm, to keep the lines of communication open.

With almost half of 16- and 17-year-olds reporting that their parents or other guardians know "very little" or "nothing" about their online activities, there are millions of unplugged, uninformed parental figures. But that can change if the adults take precautions such as talking to their kids and visiting www.Cox.com/TakeCharge, for online-safety tools, tips and a glossary of Internet chat lingo.

Have "the talk" today. The survey found that 30 percent of teens are considering a face-to-face meeting with a person they met online. Fourteen percent of teens have already had such a meeting. Do your part to prevent this from continuing to happen.

Melissa Rehon, a 2006 graduate of Warwick's Pilgrim High School, was selected by Cox Communications as one of 10 teenagers nationwide to attend the recent Teen Summit, in Washington, addressing the ways, good and bad, that adolescents use the Internet. This fall she will attend Brigham Young University.