| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
 Posted - 01/08/2007 : 08:41:43 AM
|
I usually take big time security precautions with computers in general and especially when I do business on the internet. Mostly, if you are the least bit careful, it is safer than giving your credit card number, for instance, to a faceless voice on the phone. However, I use my personal wifi lan a lot and was astounded when I read today an article in the NYT about how easy it is to sniff unencrypted passwords and uids and other important stuff from the air. Even from wired ethernet connections.
Since I use Firefox, I turned on the option that tells me when I am sending unencrypted passwords to a site and, as I should have known, this is one (because I don't see an https padlock and yellowed address box). I use several passwords for different purposes and I use my least secure one for here, but I have used it for certain transactions elsewhere (sloppy).
The bottom line is that you should use a *totally* unimportant password for this site and any others like it. I am changing mine to one that has no other use.
...Reid
|
|
|
Pauline Leland
`Olu`olu
USA
783 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2007 : 12:20:08 PM
|
Good point.
There are sooo many sites that require a password. For BB's and other low risk sites I use the same password. For others, like retail sites that might store my credit card number, I use a longer password that is unique to each site. They all warn against writing it down. Ha! I am supposed to remember them all? I have two, going on three, pages in a three-ring binder of IDs and passwords. |
Pauline |
 |
|
|
Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 01/09/2007 : 04:12:27 AM
|
Pauline, One of the smartest solutions to the password proliferation (and memory) problem was used by one of the many commenters. He has a formula in his head that is based on the site page name, and produces a unique key for that site. So, all he does is is look at the URL and mentally cranks it out. You can probably think up a simple algorithm that would do that.
...Reid |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
