NCSAM week 1: How about them passwords?

How about your passwords? Since the beginning of time, passwords have been the cornerstone of the Internet. From those that used Dos, to those that use Windows, we all have passwords.

I want you to know that Dos in this case was the operating system used before Windows, developed by Microsoft. DOS can also mean denial of service, but we’re not talking about that term at this time.

I’m not going to give you actual passwords, but I want to give you examples of what we used early, and what might be recommended today.

When I started, I had a number/letter combination. Note, that all of the letters may have been lower case, but I’m using upper case here so the sighted can see it clearer, although readers will still have it pronounced.

So, let’s say that my password was 2FRO8MI9. I was able to use it where I needed it, and I didn’t have to worry about it much.

Even when I personally went to Windows, I didn’t have any reason for me to change my habits.

As I’ve learned by reading early security newsletters from the now defunked about, things needed to change including using AntiVirus which I did do once I moved to Windows that supported it.

This isn’t necessarily dealing with AntiVirus, but know that it can do much more than virus scanning, it can assist with the threats of today including Ransomware.

So what has changed between then and now?

I recently read that your typical 12 to 20 character password may not be enough. Passwords today must not contain words from the dictionary unless it coincidently is a word as part of a passphraise. We’ll talk about passphraises later. For now, just know that we are learning that it must be 32 characters or longer.

I don’t want to necessarily recommend people go longer than they have to. I know folk that don’t like these new rules, their (codes) work fine for them, but with the numerous breaches, we can’t take that chance.

Your phone comes with a password manager. I recently reset a password I needed to as I didn’t remember what it was. I let the phone create one and I went along my way.

Here is what they recommdend.

• Upper and lower case letters
• numbers
• Symbols
• length of at least 12 characters

“Jared,” you’re writing, “How am I supposed to do that?” There are password managers out there like Lastpass, Keypass and One Password.

These password managers are three of quite a number out there, see what works for you. You can make them do words and things, but make the password long and harder to guess.

Passwords today should have something like AfRo$2!9pmfG as an example of a 12 character password. “But Jred, you’re making it hard for me!” That’s the point! The point is to make it hard for you, and he actor who wants your bank password to get it.

You can Use a passphraise too. If the sentence is: “This password advice is full of shit. I’m going to have to do something to you!” You can use some combination of letters and symbols to make something unique that you can remember. You know that’s the phraise sentences, so make that unique to you!

Some letters can be used in different ways like s for dollar sign, the letter I for exclamation, and there may be others. You’ll figure out your own way of doing things

I hope that these things are of value and may make you more cyber secure this year. Don’t forget to turn on that multi-factor authentication if available!