PC utilities: Help! I'm at my wits end trying to manage my passwords

RE: Help! I'm at my wits end trying to manage my passwords

In reply to: Help! I'm at my wits end trying to manage my passwords by Lee Koo (ADMIN) 

Probably the most common technique for user authentication is the use of passwords. The first problem is that of password selection. Experiment conducted at different places all confirm that a disturbingly large percentage of users’ password can be guessed easily. So the password should be sufficiently hard to guess so as to deter attacks. Fortunately, it is not hard to create strong passwords and keep them well protected. For a strong password one can do the following…

1. Make it lengthy. Each character that you add to your password increases the protection that it provides many times over. Your passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or longer is ideal. Many systems also support use of the space bar in passwords, so you can create a phrase made of many words (a "pass phrase"). A pass phrase is often easier to remember than a simple password, as well as longer and harder to guess.

2. Combine letters, numbers, and symbols. The greater variety of characters that you have in your password, the harder it is to guess. Other important specifics include:
• The fewer types of characters in your password, the longer it must be. A 15-character password composed only of random letters and numbers is about 33,000 times stronger than an 8-character password composed of characters from the entire keyboard. If you cannot create a password that contains symbols, you need to make it considerably longer to get the same degree of protection. An ideal password combines both length and different types of symbols.
• Use the entire keyboard, not just the most common characters. Symbols typed by holding down the "Shift" key and typing a number are very common in passwords. Your password will be much stronger if you choose from all the symbols on the keyboard, including punctuation marks not on the upper row of the keyboard, and any symbols unique to your language.

3. Use words and phrases that are easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess. The easiest way to remember your passwords and pass phrases is to write them down. Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing wrong with writing passwords down, but they need to be adequately protected in order to remain secure and effective.

Example:
I. Think of a sentence that you can remember. Use a memorable sentence, such as "My son Aiden is three years old."

II. Check if the computer or online system supports the pass phrase directly. If you can use a pass phrase (with spaces between characters) on your computer or online system, do so.

III. If the computer or online system does not support pass phrases, convert it to a password. Take the first letter of each word of the sentence that you've created to create a new, nonsensical word. Using the example above, you'd get: "msaityo".

IV. Add complexity. like "MsAi3yo”

V. Finally, substitute some special characters. Like “M$@i3y0”



The Second problem is that of remembering the password you have created. In general, passwords written on a piece of paper are more difficult to compromise across the Internet than a password manager, Web site, or other software-based storage tool, such as password managers. But in your case, when one is living with few people or sharing a computer and there are limitations, I would suggest the get a fingerprint reader. Yes a fingerprint reader, it will make your life very easy. With a simple finger swipe, you can access your system and the sensitive data stored within. You can access computers, web sites and corporate applications, a fingerprint cannot be forgotten, misplaced or shared. The fingerprint reader software/password manager lets you store multiple Web and application passwords in a hardware-secured location which are encrypted, and access these passwords through a single passphrase and/or by swiping your finger. I have a laptop which came with a fingerprint reader and the software that came along with work great it stores the entire web page data like user-name, password etc. and works with Microsoft office outlook 2007 and even with Google talk. Currently it provides support for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox not for Google Chrome.

Basic Working of Fingerprint Reader.

Fingerprint Reader stores login names and passwords in an internal database located in the user's computer. When needed, the device interactively sends the login names and passwords to compatible applications and websites, which can be used to perform the login operation automatically. In information technology, biometrics is a form of identity access management and access control.

The device is most useful in an environment, where its use may prevent others from seeing logins and passwords being keyed in. Fingerprint recognition is not fool-proof as the data stored by the reader may not be encrypted. Hackers can easily trick fingerprint scanners that use images with fake prints. But now, sensors from leading manufacturers, do not read the fingerprint image, so the software does not store an image. Storing an image weakens the security of biometric access. Instead, these electrical capacitance sensors scan the minute radio frequency (RF) pattern beneath the live skin of a finger pad. The pattern creates a unique algorithm to identify the user. Many popular laptops and keyboards have the RF strip sensors.

But there is a catch if you have to restore/format your system the data stored by the reader also get erased and files/folder encrypted by the reader are unusable. So it is advised to have your password backed up in a USB drive. Some fingerprint software offer such backup service also.

Hope this helps!
Ankit B.