Trust is important to all of us in both personal and business.
Think about this...The Internet sites we join hold both our personal and business information. We trust the Internet sites includeing the social networks we belong to.
I have a book I keep in my desk drawer with all the URLs and passwords for the social networks and other Internet sites I have joined. Yeah I know, we are NOT suppose to write our passwords down. Believe me when I was Director of the IT Security Office for NOAA, this was preached to the employees all the time. Since my retirement, the Internet has changed enormously as there are more Internet sites then the hairs on my head....now that's a lot !!.
At this time I have 108 Internet accounts...I am really amazed I have so many. (Do you know how many Internet sites you have joined?) I trust no one will take my book...God forbid I would never remember all those passwords...and they are all unique to each Internet account. I digress...
Back to trust. We must trust that the social networks we joined are safe and dependable. To ensure our data is safe we have to take another step and that is......... have good, strong passwords. Last year for the first time, I had one of my accounts compromised. How did that person get into my account...you know there are many ways hackers can compromise an account or system. I think the hackers get a HIGH when breaking into an account or a system. That's another post, another day.
Here again we need trust. Trust that an Internet site is truly secure for all our banking needs, and that our personal information is secure.
Trust the people who “like” us, join our circles, and become our friends on our social networks. We have no idea when we accept or confirm an unknown person if they are trustworthy. We are not sure they are who they say they are. We may read their profile and then accept them. WHY? Because we are trusting human beings. Trust is free, trust is good.
YOU have to make the call when it comes to trusting on the Internet.
If you don't trust the Internet 100% (who does) then having strong passwords is a MUST! So as not to repeat how to have strong passwords....check out Gary Coles post on Your Password -- Driving You Crazy or Letting You Get Hacked?
This post is a submission to the ActiveRain / Adobe EchoSign Trust Contest. I could possibly win a prize. You can find out about the contest by clicking here
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Rebecca- I so agree with you. I do not have the same password for everything but still many are similar. What's annoying is when you have to enter your password in a site that you don't often use... so now you have to go to your list that you have (I keep mine elsewhere) and look it up! And a good reminder too is to remember to LOG OUT when you visit a site. (suggested)
Featured in Bananatude!
Hi Rebecca, Unfortunately the internet security thing often goes out the window but we should really keep it in the forefront of our minds, strong passwords are a must!
Rebecca, I have so many passwords....I cant remember them all! So I keep a file titled passwords on my computer and refer to it when in need. I don't trust the internet....no on-line banking for me!
Kathy, thanks for the suggest and the feature in BananaTude. Well since I had an account compromised I am making all passwords very strong,
Sara, definitely a MUST!
Ellen, I don't keep the passwords on my computer. Hope you keep a backup! Of course, I know you do!!
I've been thinking about getting one of those password keepers. Maybe it's time! Perhaps somebody will come up with a touch screen fingerprint application....and to think all this technology is supposed to make life easier...Wayne
Wow, that is a lot of internet sites. I'm sure I don't have that many.
Wayne, yeah it is not easy...
Tammie, count 'em, you may be surprised.
Howdy and morning Rebecca
Rebecca my friend, I also sure do not use the same password for each site on the Net which I use. The only good password is a mighty strong one, which also does not go along with not using anything kind of password that matches up with your life. There are actual programs to brack passwords that folks might use.
Have a good one
Dale in New Hampshire
You have no idea how many times I have to click on "Forget your password?".............and go through that whole process. Great post Rebecca.
Rebecca ...that's a great point and something we all should think about. I click on hint just about everyday ...
Have a great one!
Rebecca: I also have a book and have about the same number of online accounts. There is no way I could remember all of the information without having a list.
Hi Rebecca, I'm afraid to count all of the sites for which I'm subscribed. I know what you mean about trust, I'm very careful with sites that involve money. But I'm a little carefree for social sites. I need to batten down the hatches, for hackers can cause damage there too.
Rebecca, you did a good job here scaring us to death....just kidding. It is something we all have to live with. David is our Password Police around here. Not allowed to use the same password and they all have his "random" criteria involved. I have to have a list of them. He keeps his in a "Password Manager" digitally. I never trust digital....but really the best is to do both...written list and digital. So many things to do in 2012. It is on my list....and I will get that done. Started already. Great post! Hitting that little button up there!
Dale, I know there are programs that will break passwords and if they are not strong they can be broken in no time.
Roger, yes I have had to do that a few times myself...
Rob, at least you did put in information for a hint when making your passwords
Anita, I'd rather have my information in a book than on the computer, but some do both.
Ron, hackers can cause migranes for us :)
Jeanean I agree if you can have a digital file and a hard copy file of your passwords.
Rebecca, the Internet should not be trusted, as hackers are so keen today. I too have a piece of paper with LOTS of sites with unique passwords in hopes of not getting hacked!
Rebecca, do I trust the Internet? Nope. Do I use it anyway? Yep. Am I nuts? Maybe. I can't imagine 108 individual accounts. I can see why you might need that note book. It does concern me at times. How safe is the Internet? My gut says not very.
Rebecca, Great post and thank you for the link to my post. Good luck with the contest. I thought this was very important so I suggested it.
Suggested!!
My passwords simply got out of control and I had to get a program to store them all. My yahoo account has been hacked a couple of times, but I don't use it for business do it was my son who was getting all the porn!
Rebecca, I have no idea how many.. but you have inspired me. I am going to start writing them down in a book and hide it. :)
Joan, don't lose that paper :)
Mike, Right ON!
Gary, thanks for suggesting this post. I couldn't have written a better post than the one you did on passwords. It was excellent.
Karen, I have two email accounts, and the Yahoo accounts gets so much spam than my Google account. But, my gmail account is the one that was compromised.
Judi, you will be amazed how many you have...once you start writing the accounts/passwords down....
Roger and I must be related. I have clicked on "forget your password" after unsuccessfully trying to log on and when I typed the "new" password in, it said, you can't have the same password that you just had. WHAT?! Then why wouldn't it log on with it?! Grrr..... :OD
Congrats on the feature! I have a nifty little app on my iphone that stores all my passwords and encrypts them as well as having a password to even access the app. Only way I could store them, If I wrote them down, I wouldn't be able to read them.
You have a lot of accounts, I need to start checking how many I have and how I've been tracking them. Thansk for the information.
Trust the Internet, but trust it carefully. The Internet can be you friend, but it can also be your foe!
I think the phrase "trust but verify" applies here. I have too many passwords to remember them all...but that's better than having just one. But I do have to write it down somewhere.
You must have a favorite place in the world. let's say "acapulco" and let's say you are making up a password for yahoo, well, I would make my password acapulcoY, and I would add 3 or 4 digits, maybe my birthday, and my wife's, and that would make my password: acapulcoY0305, next password is for active rain, well my password would be: acapulcoA0305 and so on. That would give me a different password most of the time, with 108 websites, it is ok to have a couple of them with the same password
Joni, almost didn't recognize you .. I like you new photo.
Dale, that's funny...if you wrote the passwords down you would not be able to read them...lucky you can type :)
Luis, you got to keep track of your accounts...you will be surprise how many you have!
Donald, couldn't agree more.
Ruthmarie...true trust but verify for sure.
Kamal, good way to do your passwords, I do have a few with the same password :)
Well, I might be a bit old fashioned, but I keep a hard copy print-out of a word doc file with all of my UN/PWs...all 128 of them! I couldn't pay a bill or sign-in to do a BPO without them!
Hi Rebecca - In some cases, the operators of certain websites or applications will issue different userids but provide the same password to multiple users.
If you're going to store your passwords in a file on your computer, for heaven's sake don't name the file, "passwords." Call it "Aunt Millie's Last Will," or something equally innocuous and misleading.
Trusting the internet, is like trusting the newspaper.
You'll need a few grains of salt to go with that.
Good post, thanks for sharing it.
Rebecca, We see regularly in the paper that another business has been hacked and information taken. We usually don't leave our credit card info with the "remember card" box checked. Do the transaction but not permanently keep it on file, not that guarantees any true safety, but we can try to make it a little harder :)
I don't see how any one can trust the Internet for anything. And the amount of information I have on line scares me often enough.
There are a lot of password products out there that may be helpful for this, too.
That is a lot of site URL, userid and password to remember. I suggest not using the same password for sites that are more important like your financial sites.
Good to know there are others in my shoes. This technology is moving so fast and it is fun keeping up. I hope I never need 100+ passwords to remember.
One of my resolutions for 2012 is to get better and more secure passwords. Point well-taken.
Rebecca, the safest policy is not to trust the Internet. There are people out there every day hacking into accounts. Thanks for the reminder.
Rebecca, I have a bible of passwords. I trust no one with my passwords either. One exception, those I hire to work on my sites. I trust them to work on my WordPress sites so I naturally trust them with the login. That is TRUST! Congratulations on the Feature!
Hi Marti, I hear ya!
Marc, true. I have 2 separate email accounts, and use them for UN sometime.
Sonsie, good point!
Anthony, good comparison :)
Liz & Bill, all we can do is make it harder for hackers to guess passwords.
Gabe, it scares me as well.
Cheryl, yes there are password products if one desires to use them. I just use the old fashion way.
Mike, I agree!
Richard & Jean, I was amazed to have 108, but plan to remove some of them.
Brian, a very good plan!
Michael, the safest plan is definitely DO NOT trust the Internet.
Kathleen, when I do give my password out to those working on my site(s), I immediately change it when the work is completed.
I'm sure I have well over a hundred, too. The problem is, I only have the top 20-25 that I use the most written down.
Hi
There are some great free utilities for storing passwords one can download. That way you need only remember one. Make it a hard one though for I checked several of mine at one of the security sites and found that even with 9 letters and 2 numbers in a random pattern, it was only rated medium. cheers cvc
You may have a problem there, Eric...
Curtis, thanks I may just have to get one of those utilities. Although, I find I will still keep them in my notebook. Just habit.
Wow Rebecca that is a lot of internet sites and passwords I just use the same on them all oooo User ID and 11111 as the passwords LOL PLEASE
Thanks for posting this! I worked in the IT field for 18 years before starting in Real Estate and I was shocked at how easy passwords are cracked. It's so simple to create a safe secure password, yet so many people don't bother.
I agree, last year I too was compromised & it stumped me how it was done. Changed the passwords & everything is now OK. I have 2 say that I have 2 sheets front & back with passwords that I need. Nothing with banking is kept on paper anywhere just for safety but all these passwords are getting to be a bit much. Everyone wants you to join something!
Joyce, kidding right! :)
Wayne and Jean, I agree it is so easy to create a safe and secure password.
Lyn, that is true...I will be deleting some of the sites I've joined and don't use any more.
Very true. We have to be very trustworthy online to interact to the degree that we need to for marketing. I realized reading your post that I have no idea how many sites I have passwords to. I bet 108 is a very realistic figure. Very interesting. I'm always changing my passwords so that I feel safer
As a former Sys Admin I know about security and the Internet. It's not there! User be aware!
Rebecca--Congrats on Feature Post and being included on AR Daily Post. My mother used to say 'be open with friends, but beware of strangers.' On the internet it is not as easy as know who is friend and who is foe.
Now you have me thinking about changing a few passwords.
I just started a spread sheet with the log in information for different sites based on another AR post. It's amazing how fast they add up! It's truly a living document.
I use a password that is a favorite place of mine. The great thing is it's a name I won't forget and it's not in the Dictionary. The combination is something only I would know the and it's long so it take some time for an algorithm to crack it. So far so good!
the words internet and security are a bit of an oxymoron but unfortuantely, we are in a business environment that requires internet based marketing and transactions so it is here to stay!!
Internet and passwords are driving me crazy! I also have them all written down - of course there is no way to remember them without writing them down. It often overwhelms me and I just want to simplify my life and declutter, both in material things and internet/techy things...-Kasey
Just as important is to change your passwords frequently. Some sites require a change every 6 weeks and won't accept previously used passwords within 12 months, so to protect your identity and personal information, strong passwords as you posted are essential.
I know we're supposed to use services to generate unique passwords for all our many accounts. But then, there's that little trust issue. I, like you, have a list!
I should keep better records of sites I am registered on. I do have a system, but I guess it would be foolish to spell it out on line.
Rebecca, I had to go and count mine I have 73 currently, which is hard to believe myself.They started to accumulate so much i had to create a cheat sheet to remember the User name & passwords.
Dear Rebecca,
Good advice. I am immediately going to change my universal password from 12345 to 54321. Now, that will fool them!
Hi Rebecca, I used to keep a file on my pc with all my passwords even to bank accounts called "passwords" Duh! Now it has a different name and is password protected.
Sylvie, it is good to know how many sites you've joined I bet you will be surprise when you write them down.
Derrick team....YES user be aware of the Inernet..
Mary, always a good thing to check passwords and see if they are secure using capital letters, numbers etc.all of my passwords are 8-12 characters.
Kim, smart cookie!
Paddy, and they said the Internet would not last...I agree it is here to stay.
Kasey, I hear you...
Kimo, you are correct, need to change them...and I am guilty of that as of now.
Lottie, for now I am using my notebool.
Gene, I do not keep them on my computer, just my notebook
Winston, my notebook is my cheat shet :)
Dorte, ha sooo funny!
Bob, WOW glad you made those changes.
Good post. Too many honest people trust way too much until something awful happens. Some you can't help. Every time you give your credit card to a server in a restaurant, you make yourself vulnerable. And don't get me started on the people who allow automatic access to their credit cards or bank accounts to pay movie services, gym dues, etc. Bad idea!