VB Migration

Tag: password

  • Password security is 1% choosing a half-decent password, 99% not using it anywhere else

    It is a truth generally acknowledged that there is no such thing as absolute security. Security is always a compromise with usability, and good security is about finding the right kind of compromise for the particular threat model you’re defending against. Password security is a good example. Ideally, one should use a very strong unique…

  • Password security is 1% choosing a half-decent password, 99% not using it anywhere else

    It is a truth generally acknowledged that there is no such thing as absolute security. Security is always a compromise with usability, and good security is about finding the right kind of compromise for the particular threat model you’re defending against. Password security is a good example. Ideally, one should use a very strong unique…

  • Does it matter if my banking password is ‘Prague’?

    Users do choose weak passwords, but they aren’t as big a problem as we think. This week, I spent a few days at the Cyber Security Summit Financial Services conference in Prague, discussing the state of security with people who work in the financial sector. Unsurprisingly, a common topic of discussion was that group of…

  • ‘123456’ may be an adequate password to protect nothing

    Are we giving users the right kind of advice when it comes to password security? A recent data-breach at Adobe has shown once again that a lot of users choose the most trivial of passwords to protect their online accounts. But is this really what we should be focusing on? As data-breaches go, the recent…

  • Do we need stronger email addresses?

    Skype vulnerability allowed for account hijacking using only email address. A worryingly trivial vulnerability in VoIP service Skype became public this morning, which allowed anyone to take over a user’s Skype account using nothing but the email address linked to the account. The method – which was posted on Russian underground forums a few months…

  • Hotmail beefs up security with stricter password policy

    ‘My friend has been spammed’ button also welcomed by experts. Microsoft ‘s free webmail service Hotmail has introduced some new features which should make it less likely for its users’ accounts to be hacked, and which also enable users to tell the company when a friend’s account has been hacked. One of the new features…

  • Almost three quarters use same password for different sites

    User continues to be the weakest link. 73% of computer users use the same password across multiple different accounts according to survey results released by security firm BitDefender . The survey revealed that 12% of respondents were willing to disclose their password to a stranger in order to discover whether it was strong enough. A…

  • Webmail data leak hype deflated

    Rumoured phishing explosion grabs headlines, reality much more mundane. This week has seen some major news organisations picking up on the story of tens of thousands of sets of webmail access data appearing online, with rumours of a major and highly effective phishing campaign – possibly targeting children – rife across the web. As the…