PC WORLD – Sep 21 – In June, hackers stole ~6.5M LinkedIn passwords and posted them online. That same month, intruders compromised ~1.5M eHarmony passwords in a security breach, and in July hackers grabbed 450K Yahoo Voice passwords. Among the most common passwords used by those Yahoo members: "123456," "welcome," and "password." “These days you have to have dozens of passwords and logins,” says Terry Hartmann, VP of global security solutions for Unisys. All of the passwords breached in the LinkedIn, eHarmony, and Yahoo exploits had been "hashed"—that is, the actual passwords had been replaced with algorithmically generated code. Complex passwords infused with numbers and special characters give you a fighting chance against hackers. Password management programs are essential tools for managing your digital life. A good password manager remembers all of your logins, replaces the simple passwords you choose with complex ones, and lets you change those passwords quickly if a site or service you use gets hacked. Instead of having to remember dozens of unique passwords, you only have to remember one: the master password for your vault. A biometric security system taps into the unique properties of your own physical packaging to authenticate your identity. Biometric systems can scan fingerprints, irises, faces, and even voices to establish whether a person should have access to a service or piece of hardware.
by Dan Tynan
See full article at PC World
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
