About Us | Contact Us
View Cart

Why you should ALWAYS use strong passwords!

By Dan Hadaway | Thursday, June 22, 2017 - Leave a Comment

We can’t predict where the bad guys will strike next . . .


Or how they can use technology to hurt us!
A Vigilize Post! 


Sometimes you might think,

“well . . .  okay, I buy in this strong password thing, but I am not going to use strong passwords in all my applications and websites because that will drive me crazy.  I’ll only use strong passwords where I have my credit card and my on-line banking.”

Fair enough.  I like that you are at least thinking in terms of risk, and you are right . . . some websites and applications present more risk than others.  It’s a question I hear all the time when I’m training people.  “Why use strong passwords on a website where I am not really storing any sensitive information?”

You’re not going to like my answer.

The problem I have with this is that we can rarely predict when technology can reach out to bite us. For an example, lets say that you decided not to use a strong password for your DirecTv account.  “I mean,” people will say, “who cares if somebody hacks into that account, and sees what movies or TV programs I’m watching?”

And, by the way, I want you to know that I cringe when you add, “I post about what I’m watching all the time, on Facebook and Twitter.”

And they you’ll add:  “I don’t care if anybody knows what I’m watching on TV or what I got DVR-ed.”

But what you need to understand is that if I wanted to rob your house, I’d be able to log in to your DirecTV account and see your TV viewing habits.  If I noticed that you had . . . say Dog TV . . . on your  schedule for all day on a Wednesday and a Thursday, that is a pretty good indication to me that you are not going to be around your home on Wednesday and Thursday.

This is why we encourage the use of a strong password every single time you’re ask to make up a password.They’re free!=


Intended Use:

The purpose of Vigilize is to respond to ISO’s complaints that users never read ISO’s “ongoing security awareness training reminders.”  Our tweets are designed to be copied into the subject line of your awareness reminder, with the language on these pages put into the body.  The goal is that the user will have to read the subject line to know to delete the message, and if they understand the subject line the reminder is communicated.  If not, they will go into the message and read the reminder.

Feel free to use Vigilize in your own Security Awareness Program.  Let us know if you have any ideas, suggested tweets, or ways to improve this FREE service.


Original article by Dan Hadaway CRISC CISA CISM. Founder and Managing Partner, infotex

“Dan’s New Leaf” is a “fun blog to inspire thought in the area of IT Governance.”

 


same_strip_012513


 

Latest News
    Artificial intelligence carries risk, but so does organic ignorance … Another one of those Dan’s New Leaf Posts, meant to inspire thought about IT Governance . . . . At a recent conference, I noticed two camps emerging in the debate over artificial intelligence. Some people embrace AI as a tool, while others support Elon […]
    PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BUSINESS NEWS NEW EMPLOYEE FOR INFOTEX We are pleased to announce the appointment of Nathan Taylor as our new Network Administrator at infotex.  “We are very excited to have Nathan join our team as a Network Administrator and look forward to his contributions to maintaining and improving our infrastructure!” […]
    about artificial intelligence . . . And who will protect us from it . . .  Another one of those Dan’s New Leaf Posts, meant to inspire thought about IT Governance . . . . Just watched some press on the the Senate hearings over regulating AI. The normal senator faces, Sam Altman of OpenAI, […]
    The Evolution of an Inside Term Used in our Vendor Risk Report Another one of those Dan’s New Leaf Posts, meant to inspire thought about IT Governance . . . . Those who audit infotex know that our vendor risk report refers to a couple of our providers as “ransomware companies.” This reference started evolving […]
    Another awareness poster for YOUR customers (and users). Now that we have our own employees aware, maybe it’s time to start posting content for our customers! Check out posters.infotex.com for the whole collection! Download the large versions here: Awareness Poster (Portrait) Awareness Poster (Landscape) You are welcome to print out and distribute this around your […]
    New tools could allow unskilled attackers to launch increasingly sophisticated attacks… An article review. Imagine a world where you receive a call from your boss asking you to assist them with something… only it’s not your boss, but an AI being used by an attacker.  This isn’t science fiction, it’s an actual attack that has […]
    Unavailability Strikes Where it doesn’t matter anyway Another one of those Dan’s New Leaf Posts, meant to inspire thought about IT Governance . . . . So, I’m writing today’s article from a resort in the middle of Wisconsin.  I want to make sure I’m staying on top of my New Leaf, which is to […]
    . . . and the importance of segregated response. The latest edition of Executive Vice President, Michael Hartke’s article series! In 2007 when I first joined infotex, coming from small to medium sized business general IT support into the world of cybersecurity, the one thing that was very hard for me to internally rectify was […]
    How concerts can help us understand APTs . . . Especially if you use your imagination! Another one of those Dan’s New Leaf Posts, meant to inspire thought about IT Governance . . . . My daughter reminded me of a concert Stacey and I attended way back in 2013, in Chicago.  It was one […]
    Mutiny! The Malicious Insider Threat Webinar Registration A Webinar-Video It is often awkward to bring up the one attack vector most of us have not addressed. The malicious insider threat. Even if we can flaunt all statistics and claim that the likelihood of an insider attack is low in our bank, the impact is still […]