BE A VIGILANTE AGAINST PASSWORD VULNERABILITY

FOR YOUR OWN SAKE – and FOR YOUR CLIENTS SAKE.

Security is an issue I think all of us, from one time or another, take for granted.

I think Big Ben said it best:

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

-Benjamin Franklin

While, thoust I am tempted, this is not going to turn into some political tirade. Ben’s quote came to mind, and his quote is in a different context altogether from the subject you’ve read in the headline

You Are Not Cheap. Feel Secure and more Prosperous, trade your passWORDS for passPHRASES.

This is a SIMPLE method to INCREASE your PERSONAL SECURITY instantly. Although, some people (consultants) would charge a hefty price for this advice; this INCREASE IN SECURITY only requires a decision and a swift action. Changing your ‘password’ to a phrase.

Here are some fun passphrases I’ve set in the past for clients.

(Yes, they’ve changed them now, in fact some of them may already have changed and returned back to mary777 or john123)

WeWishYouAmerry2009CHRISTMAS!!!!

Iburied6theHAMinyourfreakinBACKYARD

ERIC-youneedtoquitsmokingITSNOTGOODFORYOURHEALTH1985-2009

RockOUT9erwithyourCO*KOUT

Those are just examples of passphrases. They are MUCH MORE secure than ‘john123′ because they are alphanumeric (numberz and lettahz) use alternative characters. THEY ARE EASIER TO REMEMBER it’s a PHRASE NOT A SINGLE WORD.

CASE IN POINT:

Let’s say you had a friend who you cheated on a gambling debt. OK- maybe you weren’t cheating, you just needed more time to PAY.

You have social networking accounts like a Facebook, a LinkedIN, a Twitter, and maybe a GMail account.

You have a job where you should keep your image nice and professional, let’s say you sell Insurance. You need to AT LEAST portray a professional responsible image.

You are a bit lax and take for granted your ‘password’ or Personal Security. You have a wife named Joan. It is the year 2009. You were born in 1962. Your address is 123 Everany Street.

So you’re friend who you owe a gambling debt to is pissed off, he hasn’t heard from you in weeks. You owe him $750.

Your friend is a bit computer savvy, he even KNOWS a few people who know computers better than him. OK your friend doesn’t even know computers that well, but he’s got some wits doubled with common sense.

Your friend attempts to login your facebook. He tries first eric1962. Fail. eric2009. Fail. ericjoan2009 Access Granted.

Wow – he notices a lot of common acquaintances whom he could communicate with right now, and they would think it’s me!

He is pretty angry about the money so he writes on my Facebook wall.

Friends, Clients, Family: I have a problem right now, I have a gambling debt of $750 and a mortgage payment due tomorrow of $1800. Which one should I pay? Can anyone help me I will pay back soon! Thanks!

He then gets amped up, and decides to try my Gmail. Man I’ve got all my clients personal data in there stored in spreadsheets, confidential company info…

Longer more Nerve-wracking Story cut short.

BE A VIGILANTE AGAINST PASSWORD VULNERABILITY

USE PASSPHRASES.

We’re in a new information age. Information is instant and at anyone’s fingertips. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE THAT YOU PERSONALLY COULD MONITOR YOUR ACCOUNTS 24/7.

Yeah I can get my email anywhere. Yeah, I can give you a contract anywhere. Yeah, I can take your info anywhere.While this ‘Internet thing’ is really freakin’ convenient.

PLEASE REMAIN A VIGILANTE ABOUT THE new VULNERABILITY of your reputation.

Not only your reputation and information, but the new ability of the clumsy to turn others lifes into nightmares.

Turning the lives’ upside down of the same people you love and want to succeed. Your family, friends clients and acquaintances. Your network. Your Ecosystem.

Use Passphrases. Change them often. Use uppercase and lowercase. Use numbers and use symbols.

It’s really important.

Sam Cooke sang it best in “Chain Gang”

The world has always been confusing place. It feels as if all morals have been thrown to the wayside. To most, guidance is murky and those seeking guidance usually are unaware of the guiders agenda. Those seeking guidance may be a little murky themselves.

Chain Gang

While the digital age enables one to find information quickly, one doesn’t necessarily find the answers.  The Digital Age, Specifically the Era of Social Networking, is potentially a dangerous environment. It has the potential to be a breeding ground for manipulation.  This is where most are vulnerable and will most likely permit a legislative body to dictate.

Let us remember the 13-year old girl harassed online until she killed herself.

If this interests you check out a presentation by the University of Albama Forensics Lab titled, “Safe Social Networking: (the danger of being friendly)”

Ego has been a driving factor in all of our lives.  Arrogance, I feel is what happens when the ego doesn’t get what it wants.

Arrogance and Ego could be magic potion to dissolve your morality, your principles, and the ability to recognize and enforce them. When the potion sets in your blood, it could give one no other choice but to join the chain gang. Not  a literal Chain Gang, – the condition of having no other choice but to give up on dreams and to be forced to sell out themselves to the rat-race only when it gets tough.

A Wise Man Once Said:

“It is our anger that gets us into a fight and our ego that keeps it there.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with Self-Confidence. Knowing what oneself is capable is a valuable asset to oneself. The difference between ‘oozing-self-confidence’ and confident in ones own abilities IS Ego! Perhaps if one is constantly gloating about what one could do, there could actually be deficiency and insecurity about the ‘skill’ one is gloating about. THAT is ego. The brain is a muscle. After exercising that muscle for a period of time in such a fashion, the brain is going to ooze arrogance. Arrogance marching on in, supplementing what the ego could not address – the deficiency! Ego was afraid so it called up Arrogance. I feel that is how Ego and Arrogance dance together. Dance long enough they are going to get married. Divorce is long, expensive and painful.

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford

Whereas Ego + Arrogance Dance together, When qualities of Self-Confidence and Humility are combined there could be a potential for a five-star leader. Humility is the act of admitting one does not have all the answers. Humble people learn from others. Humility keeps ones ego at bay.

The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn’t permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him.
—Carlos Castaneda

In the Philippines, the qualities of Humility, Patience and Tactful Servitude are highly admired. Humility is also giving credit when deserved and taking credit when right. It is very difficult to keep an Ego in check in America where everyone is in a constant pissing contest. Perhaps if 100 years ago,  America as a whole put the brakes on its Moral Decay, it could be an everlasting superpower. The title of superpower is not going to hold true in this new Dawn of the East.

To live is to be among men, and to be among men is to struggle, a not only with them but with oneself; with their passions, but also with one’s own. – Dr. Jose Rizal

These days are moving very fast. Information is literally at our finger tips. Communication with so many people simultaneously has never happened as it does now.

Think about it for a second, at one time, people could only speak to one another in close distance. OK – Maybe someone can stand from the top of a hill at and yell at his highest ability and may be able to reach a few people below.

So then, we were introduced with the Telegraph,  2-Way Radios, then the Telephone……

Fast forward a little bit more, then we had guys in their basements with HAM Radios, then next came CB Radios which no longer needed to be STATIONARY –>>> then this led to Cellular Phones, and Nextels fine network of Direct Connect with Cellular Telephone.

Stop at this time period for a second. This must be 1985 – 1995. Cell Phones are getting more and more popular.

More people are able to connect with more people in greater distances.

One ‘user’ of the telephone network had the possibility of contacting all other members of that same telephone network ……   but without the ability to contact all ‘users’ simultaneously

During this period, other ‘networks’ were created and rolled out to the ‘users’ for further testing. USENET, which if you don’t remember was the protocol of Internet Newsgroups. A place were people could post messages in ‘threads’ or channels’  and receive replies in that same concurrent thread. Around the same time another protocol was getting popular and still is to this day, IRC (Internet Relay Chat). This is absolute real time, channeled, focused, text only communication accessible by any user via the internet network, or the world-wide-web.

This was a significant achievement because now a medium is created where many different users from a network can connect to one another (almost) simultaneously was available world-wide.

Fast forward to present day, where everyone HAS a cell phone.

Nearly everybody sends text messages. OK Maybe you don’t often but I bet you know how to send one by now!

Many people have laptops, and WiFi is becoming more prevalent.

Hey if you are reading this you probably have a damn smart phone too!

The point is, the reason that Twitter has gotten so popular is because computer internetworking has advanced far enough through observation only — they can know reach the masses — the common man.

It’s it getting real close, and it’s a semantic web!

This was good, it made me tired now I can sleep.