Password use on the Internet
The Internet has changed dramatically over the last few years from just viewing websites to using virtual applications in your browser. To keep you data safe sites have created logins and password entry points for each of their users. Virtual email is a good example of where the Internet is going. Most people have moved from using a mail application like Outlook or Thunderbird. It is easier to use a web based interface because it allows you to get your mail anywhere on any computer. Instead of dragging your laptop around you can drop into an Internet cafe and log into your email application ton get to your letters. All of the major sites like Yahoo!, Google, and MSN ask for a login and password before they let you in. Some sites generate a password for you in an effort to create hard to guess passwords. For a single site this is simple and easy to work with.
Fast forwarding to 2008 we have all kinds of applications on teh web including word processing, spreadsheets as well as social gathering sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. All of these sites give you access to powerful applications in a virtual environment through your browser. Again, you can store all your files in these applications and access them from any computer on the Internet. The bad news is the use of passwords on all these sites. Some use your email address as your login to make t easier to remember what your login is. The bad news is if the bad guys know your email address they can start to break into these sites by trying passwords based on your dog’s name, children’s names, or other items that are easily retrieved from public records. If they manage to break in they can use that password on other sites. If you use the same passwords on different sites you are giving crooks an easy way to access anything you have on the web.
Using the same password on all these sites open you up to an attack that may open all the files and data you have to crooks. If the bad guys get into your Google account, they have access to your email, files associated with Google Applications (word processing, spreadsheet, powerpoint), analytics which displays important data about your websites, and adsense, which sends money to your account. As you can see, this one password opens up important files as well as banking data. Now expand the user of the same password and you give thieves access to many aspects of your life and you’ll never know until it is too late. The answer is using different passwords for each site. But rather then trying to remember zillions of different passwords, come up with a strategy to create different passwords. Perhaps use part of the URL of the site in the password so that each one is but can be easily memorized. Another method is to use specific numbers rather then letters in passwords that are different for each site but can be easily recreated so you don’t have to memorize all of them.
These are just two methods to create different passwords for each site but still be able to quickly remember them. Don’t leave yourself open to attack if any of your site logins is compromised, make sure all the passwords you use are different so the crooks can’t get into any other sites. Otherwise you may end up spending many nights trying to fix your credit and figuring out how to get back all of your old emails.
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