Password Security

Gone are the days when you could use a simple ‘easy to remember’ password on every site you needed to use a password on to access it. These days we might find that the average person requires log in details for over 100 sites.

The number is gradually increasing as our lives become more and more dependent on websites for services from mundane things to the important things like healtcare and banking.

Therefore password security is just as important as having your annual health check.

Here are some tips on how to make sure you aren’t breaking any fundemental password rules.

  1. Make your passwords long
  2. Avoid common phrases (in any language)
  3. Do not use personal information
  4. Use a mix of characters and UPPER and lower case letters, numbers and symbols
  5. NEVER reuse passwords, even on ‘low priority sites’
  6. Store passwords in a secure password manager
  7. Only change a password when you need to or if there has been a data leak
  8. Use 2-factor authentication
  9. Only share passwords securely
  10. Be careful clicking on links in emails/text messages

1. Make your passwords long: Increasing password length is among the most important password security tips. The logic behind longer passwords is simple each time you add an extra character, you increase the number of possible combinations, along with the time it would take an attacker to decipher the password. Just going from 8 to 12 characters makes it nearly impossible to guess a password based on computer-generated combinations.

2. Avoid common phrases: Dictionary words like password, dragon,  monkey and princess are among those commonly used as a password (or part of one). Not surprisingly, these simple words, along with basic patterns like abcd1234, are also easy for others to guess. Numerical passwords like 123456789 are even less secure since there are only ten available characters.

3. Do not use personal information: Most of us are guilty of this occasionally. After all, it’s much easier to remember your parakeet’s name than some random combination of numbers and letters. Addresses and birthdays are other examples of personal information that people convert into passwords to make them easier to remember. Since this identifying information can often be found on the web, leave it out of your passwords.

4. Use a mix of characters: Using a variety of symbols in your password, including uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters, is another good way to strengthen password security. Since there are no set rules for arranging the symbols, try inserting special characters and uppercase letters into the middleof the password, not just the beginning or end. But while you may think it’s clever to replace common letters with symbols, l!k3 th!$, be warned: cybercriminals are wise to this tactic, so it won’t actually slow them down any more than regular words will. On some devices (iPhones etc) when logging in to a site for the first time it will offer a secure password… use it, it will then be saved.

5. Never reuse passwords:The volume of accounts and passwords we maintain can lead us to reuse passwords to make them easier to remember. Duplicate passwords weaken cybersecurity by exposing multiple accounts if even one password is compromised. Using a secure password manager will often alert you to duplicate and compromised passwords.

6. Never store passwords in an unsafe place: Passwords stored in desk drawers or written on sticky notes can easily be lost or fall into the wrong hands. Passwords stored electronically in spreadsheets, notes applications, or web browsers are also vulnerable since none of these methods typically use encryption to protect stored passwords. Use a secure password manager application such as 1Password, Dashlane, Password App built in to MacOS/iOS, NordPass, Keeper etc. Password managers will ensure that you no longer need to remember any passwords only the one to get in to the manager, and that can often be done with Face ID or Touch ID or similar.

7. Only change your password when you need to: Changing passwords too frequently can make them less secure. Changes might result in only minor changes to an existing password and if the previous password was compromised, then the hacker has a head start on what the new password might be.

8. Use 2-factor authentication (2FA): This uses a second credential, such as a randomly generated code sent through an app or by email/SMS to provide further verification that the user trying to log-in is the correct person. This is best set up with an application on your smart phone so only you will have access to it. Apps that offer this feature include Authy, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Duo Mobile as well as a lot of the password managers available now.
Banks will insist on using 2FA to access your account these days. It doesn’t replace your password, therefore your banking password and any other password you use on a site with 2FA should follow all the normal rules. It’s also best to use 2FA on any social media sites you access.

9. Only share passwords securely: Try to avoid sharing any passwords with anyone if you can help it. If their security is impacted in some way then it compromises your security as well. It’s best that they set up their own account rather than sharing yours when possible. Most of the password managers however offer a method of sharing data using encrypted and therefore secure methods. If you must use a messenger service to share important information choose one that has end to end encryption, and is not open such as email or an ordinary text message.

10. Avoid clicking on links in emails: It is very easy to get caught out by an email or text message that looks like it has come from a reliable source. Don’t click on the links until you have checked if they are real or not. If have clicked on a link that compromised your security, make sure you change your password straight away do not wait. Keeping your email box empty of junk emails is a whole other topic for another day!

Passkeys: Passkeys are a new way to log in to apps and websites without using traditional passwords. Instead of remembering and typing in a password, you use a digital key that is unique to each account.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Two Keys: Your device creates two keys – a public key and a private key.
  2. Public Key: The public key is stored by the app or website.
  3. Private Key: The private key stays on your device and is used to unlock your account.

When you log in, your device uses the private key to prove your identity without ever sharing it. This makes it much harder for hackers to steal your login information

Passkeys are often used with biometric authentication like FaceID or fingerprint scans, making them both secure and convenient

Read more about Passkeys here. https://developers.google.com/identity/passkeys

Stay safe on line.

This post is available as a PDF document here. Please share it to your family and friends or a link.

Steve Morton
August 2024

Using photography as part of your daily exercise routine.

Reading that title might make you think of bench pressing full camera bags!! Yes they can get heavy, but I was thinking of another way!

I try to keep as active as possible, as a 65 year old retiree, it has to not be too strenuous, but enough for me to close my activity rings on my Apple Watch each day.

Exercise for me is mainly walking, sometimes at a slow pace, sometimes at a fast pace if I’m going somewhere listening to music.

Today I took my camera with me on a photo walk, it didn’t matter that I had been around these streets in the town many times before. Looking around you often see things that have changed, or something you hadn’t noticed before.

I didn’t take many photographs, but I enjoyed the walk and looking for scenes to shoot and the walk did me good. The quality of the photos wasn’t important either.

In most cases I can go back again next time and try again, may be with a different camera out of my small collection!

Today I used my Canon EOS600D. My EOS100D with a fixed wide angle lens is perfect for these photo walks, compact and light weight.

Until next time, take care, keep fit and enjoy photography too.

Great sites and You Tube Channels for Photography

I was pleased to receive an email this morning complementing me on the coverage of Photography on my site and would I consider adding their website to the list.

When I looked at Photo Tips Galore  I was pleased to see it wasn’t full of tips for just smart phone users or Fujifilm X100 users! This site had everything including DSLR’s and film cameras as well as digital compact cameras. Take a look I hope you find something that interests you too.

Here are some other sites/channels that I enjoy looking at:

Take a look and see if there are any that interest you.

Fortnightly Check List for Apple Mac/iPhone Users

1. Go to System Settings

 

 

 

Go to General, then Software Update, check that the Mac OS is up to date.

2. Go to System Settings

 

 

 

Go to General, then Time Machine, check that the most recent backup on all drives is within the last 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Checking for Updates on other apps.

Word, Excel etc. In Word, click on Help, Check for Updates

Thunderbird. In Thunderbird, click on Thunderbird, then About Thunderbird, it will then check for updates.

Skype. In Skype, click on Skype, then Check for Updates.

4. Go to System Settings

 

 

 

Go to Passwords, Log in with your machine password, check security recommendations for compromised, reused, weak, leaked passwords.

Black and White Film Photography

Firstly, I would like to give you my apologies for the recent lack of activity. The end of 2023 and beginning of this year took a turn in an unplanned direction and photography (and other things) had to take a back seat for a while. I’ve not even taken many photographs with my shiny new iPhone 15 Pro since getting it.

Hopefully though now that the weather is improving, I will start to feel inspired to take off the lens cap a bit more often and get outside with one of my many cameras.

I did film photography for several decades before changing over to digital photography about 20 years ago. At one point in the mid 1970’s I did a lot of black and white film photography and I had access to a dark room and all the equipment to process my own films and print my own negatives. I enjoyed the process. But I’ve not done any of that in the last 40 or more years.

In the last 20 years, my use of my film camera has sadly decreased to may be one or two rolls a year. However, I still enjoy using my Canon EOS30 film SLR camera, but it is quite a challenge compared to digital these days. There are times when I wish I still had some of my other film cameras such as the Olympus OM30 I used in the 1990’s.

The other major difference to digital photography is cost, the cost of film and of getting it processed etc. That has put me off doing it too often. It’s a sort of treat to do it once or twice a year.

After a bit of research I’ve found a company here in France that does film processing, scanning, printing etc. They are Nation Photo, they are based in Paris, but they do a mail order service. I did enquire locally about the cost of film processing, but it was a crazy expensive price. The Nation Photo site is available in English as well as French 😉🇫🇷

Nation Photo do quite a quick turn around. I posted a film to them last Tuesday, and I received an email back from them a week later with a link to download my images in TIFF format. They will post the negatives back to me sometime this week I guess.

For a change this time I decided to give Black and White film another go, it is many years since I shot in black and white apart from on my digital camera. I loaded up a roll of Ilford HP5, a film stock I’ve not used in ages. The grain is very evident in the resulting images but it adds to the creativeness of them I guess.

Once a month the local automotive club meet up in the town market square, naturally there are quite a lot of old French cars (2CV’s and the like), but there is also a good selection of other makes from around the world. I don’t go every month, but I was determined to ‘finish off my film’ last month.

Here are a small selection of my photographs from this recent film.

I’m reasonably pleased with the results. I have done some small adjustments to the images you see here, mainly to increase the contrast levels and some cropping.