How many passwords should I have for my business?

[Delphine]

I'm afraid. I never want to get hacked. I own a business and most of my stuff has different passwords from my paypal, email, important accounts (business websites), and non-important accounts (facebook, twitter). How can I prevent myself from getting hacked as much as possible? Like, if my website were to get hacked, my email could get hacked that would be terrible. I can't afford to get hacked.

[Jon]

Use passwords that are hard to decode. Rotate your passwords every 90 to 180 days to ensure they stay fresh and unbreakable.


If you're having trouble coming up with strong passwords, use this:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security...ecker.aspx


Otherwise, you're doing the best you can. Remember, you can always strengthen your security on all aspects of your business. Using best security practices ensures you've done the best you can to protect your assets from the hands of hackers.

Your website can be hardened by extension plugins such as an SSL or McAfee's Plugin that protects your site. Get an Enterprise level firewall and virus scan for your PC, do not use Wireless for any business transactions or correspondences.

There are books in B&N that can help you do what I have said above.

Good luck

[clint]

Don't make yourself a target. Don't have simplistic passwords (password1, admin1, mybusinessname, mybusinessphoner#, etc). Don't use the same passwords on multiple accounts, and change your passwords every 45-90 days. Don't reuse the same passwords for at least 6 months.

When it comes to hacking, what you are referring to is called "brute forcing" which means trying millions of passwords with a program very quickly through the back-end of the computer.

This is not the most common form of hacking. To protect yourself, make sure you only access your sites from computers that have been running windows updates, have a decent anti-virus, and preferably a fire wall.

Windows updates are important because it fixes security flaws that are found in Windows. There are always new flaws being found and hackers will exploit these until they are fixed. If you haven't been running windows updates for a while, you have a lot of security concerns.

The reason you need good anti virus is in case you get infected with a "key logger" or virus that also key logs. This is a small application that will monitor your keystrokes until you type in a "trigger" word, for example you type in wells fargo, or US bank, or facebook, etc. It will trigger upon typing something like this, then record your next keystrokes, most typically your username and password, and then send them to a server for someone to sell to someone else.

Lastly, I mentioned a firewall. In case your anti virus fails, a firewall "blocks" incoming and outgoing traffic through your internet connection ports. These are not physical ports, but a way the computer communicates with the internet. A firewall will stop all outgoing traffic until you allow it through. So if you use your banking site once a day, and then suddenly one day you type it in, and your firewall tells you some random process (w399np.exe) is trying to communicate with some random ip address (23.58.105.20) and it has never been there before. Immediately stop what you are doing, and update your virus definitions and scan, you have probably been keylogged.

This is my advice to best save yourself the headache of having your password stolen, or being "hacked". Additionally, try very hard to use paypal to purchase online, even large sites can be keylogged and steal your credit card info when you type it in. I've had it happen to me when reserving a room at the holiday inn on a business trip.

Best of luck. You can always hire a security firm to protect your data also if you have enough at stake. But these aren't cheap.

I can be reached at http://www.technonook.com for additional assistance.

Hope this was helpful.

[Colinc]

ALL passwords MUST be 8 characters long or more, MUST include upper case and lower case letters, and some numbers. No part of them must refer to you, family, friends, pets, addresses, phone numbers or anything else you may let slip to anyone or post on line. The same rule applies to security questions and answers. Nothing that truly relates to you. Use different passwords for each site, that way one does not compromise the other. Different again for company file servers, emails or anything else. NEVER store ANY passwords on your servers or client machines. Do NOT allow browsers to store passwords. If you do that and anyone gets to your unattended machine they can get security information from the site. Also an infection can make use of a stored connection. Always run a good active fully updated anti-spyware/virus on all machines. Do NOT allow employees access to torrents, block any known illegal software and music sites.

[DunbarPappy®ϟϟ]

Wise password choices makes up only a small fraction of digital & Internet security, especially if you 'build' your own site related to a business, with a commercial aspect.

Security is a multifaceted, dynamic, and often an elusive 'snapshot' that has no single state where everything is just wonderful & without problems.
If you are serious about security, it requires constant monitoring of emerging threats and counter-measures; deep understanding of how things go wrong and how to establish protocols to assure the current best practices; a thorough education of all participants in the system, and many phases require the attention to the most minute detail.
In short you must become a security expert. Nothing less will do.

If you can't devote to daily time for all the above threat landscapes, you should seriously consider hiring a dedicated person or staff to handle those tasks.

[chester]

You should speak to a company that deals with computer security or enterprise security. This can help you find a safe way to protect your computers. Many Twitter accounts are hacked so it is a good idea to use passwords that are not hard to hack.