MyComputerPaladin.com

Greetings Citizens of the Realm!

Tonight the Paladin wishes to discuss a rather basic part of security for your data. He is referring to the venerable beast known as a “password.”

It seems these days that we have more passwords than we know what to do with. We have passwords for our email, passwords for our computer systems at work, passwords for our home computer, passwords for our phone account, internet account, cable account, and on and on and on.

In fact, the Paladin believes with a quick count that he currently has to keep track of approximately 50 passwords at any one time (or more). This is quite a task.

Now, experts will tell you to NEVER write down a password. But of course, who is going to remember 50 passwords or more? This is just not reasonable. Most people need to do SOMETHING in order to remember a bunch of passwords. Sadly, writing them down is the most common method of handling it.

But however you manage your passwords, the issue remains that people can and do use passwords that they get a hold of to access accounts that they have no business accessing.

For example, blogger Nicole Ferraro of the website Internet Evolution is reporting that in a recent survey (and the Paladin notes that it is a scientifically insignificant sample size of just a few hundred people) 42% of the respondents indicated that they had logged into someone else’s email or social networking account without the owner’s knowledge (click here for the original story).

Even with the statistically small sample size, the results are a bit frightening. They indicate that people are more than willing to go tooling around in your email or facebook account without your knowledge. All ethical issues aside, this goes to show you that the confidentiality of your passwords is indeed important!

Of course, you should NEVER give your password to someone else, or leave it on a post it note affixed to your computer. Also, it is never wise to leave your computer unattended without first logging out of whatever application you are in, or better yet, “locking out” other users so no one can use your computer until you return and enter your computer’s password.

Also, one of the easiest ways for a friend, coworker, family member, or anyone for that matter to discover your password is to simply peek over your shoulder as you type it.

The Paladin even knows of one resourceful young lady who, after being locked out of using the internet on the family computer by her parents, positioned a video camera to point at the keyboard but in a manner that made it look like the camera was just stored on the shelf. By reviewing the tape she was able to discover the password her parents had used and then accessed the internet when she wanted to chat with her friends (this young lady later felt guilty about it and fessed up to her parents, I might add, marking her as both bright AND with a conscience. The Paladin predicts she will go far in life…).

But the point being, whether you believe it or not, people DO look for your password in order to access your account. Sometimes it is just curiosity. Sometimes it is a strange sort of electronic voyeurism. Other times it is for purposes more nefarious.

Be sure you guard your passwords well. And be certain to change them often!

You have been warned!