Steve Smith, host of your TQA Weekly, talks about passwords, password length and uniqueness, Last Pass, hackers, and how it all relates back to you.
Episode #2-41 released on July 8, 2012
Today, I'm going to talk about passwords, Last Pass, and how to be much more secure, regardless of any deficient means of security a web-site may undertake. How can I say this? Well complicated passwords make it harder for hackers to crack, and the longer the password is, the more likely that no one bother trying to crack your password. Take an example like this, most passwords are between 8 to 12 characters long. And, because making a rainbow table, the database of known hash answers for specific and common passwords gets infinitely more space consuming. It is unlikely that an extensively long password would be cracked, even if it was unsalted, due to the space and time constraints placed on hackers. This is why most hackers will target accounts that have single digit length passwords. Using a password with capitals, small case, numbers and special symbols is also important, but who has the time to think of ways of remembering all these passwords? You don't have to.
Today, let's talk about Last Pass. It comes as a browser extension or as a stand alone application that, also, installs the browser specific add-ons. You may download it at http://lastpass.com. Once installed, it has a few ways of helping you out, once you register. When you register, you do like other web-sites, and create a password for your account. This is the last password you really need to remember. This is because you can use it on any computer you use, on most mobile devices, and Last Pass offers it for free, unless you want to upgrade. Once registered, and installed, the application you detect when your entering passwords, and ask you if you want it to remember. This behavior allows for faster logins. Last Pass can, also, detect password changes, and you can, also, manually, change the password in your Last Pass account.
Want to know why I love Last Pass, you can have Last Pass create super complicated passwords for you. This way, not even those that know you, can decipher the code. Last Pass allows you to remember passwords for many web-sites, so you can stop using the same password for all accounts. This makes it safer for your accounts. If one is breached, just that one web-site is compromised.
There are more reasons why Last Pass is the solution for you. Remember, you can use it on most mobile devices, and virtually all platforms, this means you never need to remember what your password was anywhere. But, you may be wondering how that is secure. Well, you can sign in, like any web-site, and have it log out automatically, and you can opt into a two step login using your Google Authenticator Application available in the iTunes Store, Google Play Store, etc... Having the program auto-lock out, and using a two step login means that no one can get into your account without your mobile device and password at the same time.
More options available, besides the ability to create a new random password, storage of passwords, and 2-Step Login are one-time passwords, Identities, Auto-Login, etc..
Next time, you make an account, or login into your favorite web-site, consider using Last Pass to save this web-site into memory, and maybe consider changing the password with a more complicated, unique, random, password.
Links to the Last Pass web-site and application, video tutorials provided Last Pass, and the Last Pass User Manual are provided below on Youtube, and for all others, head over to http://tqaweekly.com/se2ep41.
Next Week, I'll talk about RSS Feeds, the different types, the origin of today's RSS feed, and how you can take advantage of this truly engaging technology that allows we, podcasters, to bring you new episodes directly to your computer, multimedia center, even mobile devices. I'll, also, be suggesting several new software solutions that you may want to try to take advantage of RSS feeds to keep you connected with your favorite web-sites.
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Host : Steve Smith | Music : Jonny Lee Hart | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Productions