Not so long ago, I was VP at a rapidly growing anti-virus company. I was in sales and marketing, but I liked hanging out with the anti-virus gurus. Their jobs seemed so exotic and exciting as they were on 24-hour call saving the world! The more I talked with them, the more I understood that while the bad guys are very good at what they do, much of their success depended on average people NOT taking even basic precautions. The head of the anti-virus lab showed me a very simple slide that he used for his presentations. It showed that the major viruses in the early 2000’s spread only AFTER Microsoft announced the security patches that would protect customers. So, if customers acted reasonably quickly (meaning weeks and not months!), much of the damage that was created by viruses in the first half of this decade could have been avoided. (We can debate the pros and cons of the necessity of software security patches some other day.)
The following article reminded me of the importance of each computer user taking responsibility for his or her own security – nothing that would require huge technical knowledge, just taking care of the basics. Computer software and hardware are tools that can help keep you secure; we each need to use these tools appropriately, and not just forget about them and hope that everything will be OK. As is stressed in the article, basic precautions are necessary even with passwords:
“The statistics showed many people still using “admin,” or “administrator” as their username, suggesting that default usernames and passwords are still being used. Similarly, easy to crack passwords were being used “I23456″ was common as well as the simple phrase “password.” Default and easy to crack usernames and passwords combined with automated account credential tools make the process all too easy, Microsoft said.”
Peter L
Hi, first I want to say awesome blog. I don’t always agree with your blogposts but it’s always a great read.
Hello, great point. Posts like this one are why I follow your blog. Have a great 2010!