March 03, 2010
Protecting Your Business - Login Credential Security Risks
The online business industry is crawling with mischievous individuals that are anxious to get their hands on any information they can use to their benefit. Many times these hackers or scam artists are just trying to have some fun, however there are those that use their hacking abilities for criminal purposes, and will not hesitate to steal your hard-earned money and ruin your business in the process.
The Importance of Password Security
Protecting yourself from this kind of threat is absolutely imperative, as it poses a very real risk to the safety and continuity of your online business, and maybe even your life as you know it! The previous statement is not an exaggeration; there have been cases in which business owners have lost everything because they were sued for the actions of someone who stole their login credentials and committed fraud with their accounts. If you can't prove someone stole your login credentials, then you're going to be the prime suspect regardless of whether you actually committed a crime or not. This is why it is absolutely essential to protect all of your login credentials.
Brute Force
In the distant past, passwords were somewhat safe regardless of how many digits they had or how abstract they were. The only methods a hacker had was to guess the password manually or by using a relatively slow program to guess the password. These programs are called Brute Force programs and they are still in use today by many hackers, however the current versions of these programs are much more complex, and much faster at completing the task of hacking into your accounts.
Keyloggers
However, now thee are programs which let hackers spy on your browsing habits, and even log the exact keys you press on your keyboard! This means passwords are no longer safe simply by creating a secure password! Instead you'll need competent antivirus technology in combination with secure passwords. If a hacker can manage to get your login credentials, there is no limit to what they can do with it. They may even try to log in to some of your other accounts such as your email, your bank account, or some of your other websites. This is why it is absolutely imperative to never use the same password for all of your accounts. Make sure all of your passwords are random and make sure each one is unique and contains a healthy mixture of numbers and letters.
Conclusion
The risks associated with login credential theft are great and should not be overlooked by any online business owner. Even if you do not own a business, you should consider all of the personal information that you may store in your various online accounts such as your home address and your phone number which could be used to spam you. If you use online banking at all then you'll most definitely need to make sure you take the proper precautions when protecting your passwords. Using a combination of antivirus technology and proper password creation, you should be able to keep all of your finances and personal information secure indefinitely.
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Tags: security risks,
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spy on browsing,
antivirus,
brute force
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