In today’s day and age, we have to use passwords for almost everything online where we need an account. Be it when we sign up to an internet forum, when we login to an instant messenger client or when we do online banking, we always come across that page which will ask for a password.

It’s often tempting for many just to think up a very short password that you can remember easily, perhaps a password that you will use across many different accounts on the internet. But in doing this, you are greatly putting your account’s safety and even your personal details in danger.

There are a few steps to having the most secure and safest password, and all of them will help improve your accounts security just a bit more.

• Try to make your password more than 8 characters long, longer than 12 ideally.

• Use upper case and lower case letters as well as including numbers

• Adding symbols in, like exclamation marks, question marks, full  stop and slashes

• Don’t stick to any words that would be found in a dictionary, if you do so, you instantly put your account more in the path of harm’s way.

If you combine a little bit of each and every one of these things you’ll have a much more secure password for your account in no time!

Don’t just leave it at that though! Always avoid using the same password for different websites or accounts, because if a hacker manages to figure out one of your passwords, they will have access to a lot of other accounts too. This could even involve your bank account and details!

A few simple tactics you could use to come up with new secure and safe passwords could include:

Think of a small phrase that could relate to the account you want to make a secure password for. A small phrase for my computer logins screen could be, “I hope nobody hacks my computer!” Once you’ve got this, take the first letter of each word so that in this case you end up with something like, “Ihnhmc!” Ideally, a longer one would be better, but this is a good basis to start with, if you can add in more symbols or some numbers into this or even just capitalise every other letter you are well on your way to a very secure password that might look something like, “!hN#mC!”.

Letters like “I” can be substituted with the exclamation point “!” as can “E” with “3”. Many other letters can also be replaced with similar looking numbers or symbols. An alternate way to lengthen and further secure your password, is to insert the website name or account halfway through it. For example, if you were creating a password for your Windows Live Messenger account, you could write “!hNwindows_live_messenger#mC!” This of course is a much longer password and will be near on impossible to be cracked with brute-force methods.

Another method of creating a more secure password, would be to come up with one that, when typed, makes your hands move from the left side to the right side of the keyboard very often. If you make one with this technique, you’ll significantly reduce the chance of someone looking over your shoulder seeing exactly what you typed.

The most simple way of instantly boosting the security of a new password

Think of a word or short phrase that you want to use, but instead of typing it as you normally would, move up the keyboard one row for each letter, so “Q” would become “!” and “F” would become “R”. This means that you could turn an insecure password such as “CenturyIT” into a much more complex, “D3h574685” Not only is this considerably more secure, but also very easy to remember.

As a last resort, there are numerous websites which offer secure random password generation. These websites will create a code at random for you to use as a secure and safe password. The downside to using a site like this is that it is more than likely you will have to write it down to remember it, creating the possibility of the password then being insecure as if it is written simply on a bit of paper left by the computer, anyone who sees it can use it.

Finally, if you use public computers such as the ones found in libraries, then it is essential that you change your password often! If the computer remembers your password, then the next person to use that computer could instantly have access to your account! Changing your password regularly is essential in this case. If you primarily use your own computer on your own network, then it is not essential to change all of your passwords so often.  Especially for websites such as forums where very little important information is held.

If you want to see how secure the passwords that you are using are, http://www.passwordmeter.com/ is a very quick and easy site to use.

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right

Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire.

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right

Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire

Many businesses know that without the ‘Company Data’ there is no business, but many still take the risk and don’t check their backups daily or perform any test data restores.

Businesses that experience data loss soon find themselves with an interruption to their business whilst data recovery methods are explored. The risk is never worth the cost, lost ‘company data’ simply can’t be replaced

What can be done?

• Ensure your computer network is Proactively Monitored
• Get your I.T Support Company to test your backups regulary
• Take a secondary backup using an Online Data Vault

Proactive monitoring can help prevent interruption to business by identifying problems before they affect your business, for example flagging alerts for failed backups.

Testing backups on a regular basis can help ensure that data can indeed by restored from supposedly good backups.

Taking secondary backups helps reduce the risk of data loss should a failure occur, there is an old adage that you can’t have too many backups!

Making backups to an Online Data Vault using a fully encrypted Internet connection to a secure location has many advantages :-

20,000 Laptops are lost or stolen every year

• Your data is guaranteed safe and secure

• It’s quick and easy to set up
• It’s affordable and reduces costs
 
• Being fully automated it eliminates human error
   
• Restoring data is quick and easy
• Scalable solutions for all sizes of business

Having a secondary system of backups to restore from in the event of a disaster situation gives business owners peace of mind that their business critical data is always safe and available.

How Does Online Data Backup Work?

1) Any online data backup solution assumes you have an internet connection and that you have at least ADSL, DSL or Cable.

2) You normally install some specialist backup software on the machine that hold the data you want to backup

3) You choose what types of data you can backup

4) You schedule the Online Data Backup software to backup at a time which is convienient to you

5) A backup of your selected data is made to the Online Data Backup Provider

What Should I Look for When Choosing an Online Backup Solution?

 1) Transferring your data across the Internet is normally not secure, you need to make sure that the Online Data Backup Provider uses secure encryption technologies to secure you data as it travels over the internet to stop unauthorised interception.

2) An important consideration is also where will your data be stored, Online Data Backup providers would normally hold your data in a data centre, it would be in your best interest to find out if your data is being held within a U.K data centre or one in another country.

3) Find out if your data is stored at the data centre in an encrypted format and who else has access to your data.

4) What about in the event of a complete restore being needed? Downloading everything via your Internet connection will be compartively much slower than by your local tape backup. Does your Online Data Backup provider offer a Disaster Recovery Option? Can they deliver your data to you for restore, quickly?

5) Besides being able to back your files and folders, does your Online Data Backup provider provide the software to backup your Exchange email or SQL databases?

Summary

In summary, additional to the local data backups you would normally make as part of your I.T maintenance procedures, having a secondary backup of business critical data using an Online Data Backup provider is a sound choice.

Using an Online Backup Data Vault will help reduce the risk of data loss, it can be especially beneficial in any business continuity plan.

Dont Risk IT 

Talk to us to find out how you can ensure your business critical data is also backed up to an Online Data Vault and we will offer you a Free 30 Day Trial.  (Contact Us)

Remember 90% of businesses that found themselves without data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy inside 2 years!

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right

Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire

* Source – London Chamber of Trade & Commerce

  ]]> http://www.century-it.co.uk/itservices-itsupport-blog/index.php/2009/10/online-data-backup/feed/ 0 http://www.century-it.co.uk/itservices-itsupport-blog/index.php/2009/06/if-your-computer-system-failed-which-application-could-you-do-without-for-a-few-days/ http://www.century-it.co.uk/itservices-itsupport-blog/index.php/2009/06/if-your-computer-system-failed-which-application-could-you-do-without-for-a-few-days/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:47:36 +0000 Century IT Services http://www.century-it.co.uk/itservices-itsupport-blog/?p=272

Nearly every business has a computer network of some description and I wondered what priorities people put on their computer systems. Quite a few companies leave their I.T support to chance and only respond to a computer problem once it has stopped their business.

You can’t run your company without computers.  Have you ever had your server go down, your email lock up or your backup fail? then you know how quickly an IT problem can impact on your overall business performance.

Recently I ran a poll on LinkedIn and asked the question:-

If your computer system failed, which application could you NOT do without for a few days?

Email and Internet were the primary business applications for many companies, with the majority saying they simply could not do without email for a few days, closely followed by Internet.

I would suggest that you need IT support to keep your company running so downtime is minimised, productivty is not affected a situation where you lose revenue is averted

I would like to get some more respondents to this survey, so if you can spare me a minute of your time, please can you add your opinion to my results.

(http://polls.linkedin.com/p/38409/tvfdl)

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire

With an economic downturn history tells us there is an increase in crime. As well as the traditional notions of crime, this year has been cited for an explosion of cyber crime and online identity fraud. Were you aware that the majority of I.T security breaches come from within? Protecting your company by ensuring your computers are secure from internal as well as external threats should be your priority.

Would you know if a disgruntled employee copied confidential data to a memory stick, or uploaded it to a web site? Do you know if emails are being sent containing confidential company information?

When considering the subject of computer network security a holistic approach should be taken.  Properly installed and supported computer networks should have layered security; starting at the perimeter of the network, and ending with robust security policies on the user’s computers.

Improving your computer systems can increase productivity.  These increases can be made in several ways; by making your computers more secure, by allowing remote access for workers away from the office, and also computerising manual processes to save you time. These changes will make your systems slicker, high tech and more importantly secure.

Century IT Services offer a range of support options to suit different types of business and budgets. We are particularly skilled in fault finding on some of the most troublesome computer networks.

Useful Links

Hampshire & Isle Wight Partners In Business Publication

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire

For many businesses, in the least it will probably mean workers not turning up for work or the government enforcing quarantine or restricted travel arrangements. Complying with any rules will obviously be everyone’s duty and moral responsibility, but after that where does this leave British businesses and the U.K economy?

Short term we could be just talking about losing trade & business, perhaps an accountable financial loss. Longer term, the question has to be how long can British businesses survive without service or sales especially in the current global economy.

Large or corporate companies who have embraced globalization probably have a tried & tested business continuity plan, but what about the millions of small & medium sized businesses? What business continuity options are open to them? Every business is different, each having different priorities and concerns.

Many businesses nowadays are heavily reliant on information technology, even though IT can be a large part of the business continuity subject, business continuity is not just about the topic of information technology, it should cover a vast range of issues for example:-

• Do you have all your employee contact details & next of kin?

• Do you have your customer, supplier or banking details to hand?

• Can your employees do anything productive working from their homes?

• What essential business functions must continue in any emergency?

• How will you communicate the plan to everyone involved?

There are many questions to consider, some will probably require much debate among your key staff. Many small and medium sized business simply do not have a business continuity plan or have considered what if scenarios. In the current competitive world out performing your competitors is often key to survival.

Century IT Services can help you address the IT issues. We can advise on computer systems and infrastructure to enable remote users to access business critical applications and help your company continue trading. We can also advise on how remote users can use VoIP technology telephones to communicate with each other, the office, your customers & suppliers.

Being a remote user or home worker need not mean being disconnected from your business, colleagues, clients or suppliers. Being in a situation where you have to force your employees to work from a remote location or their homes doesn’t mean that business should stop.

Careful planning could see your business continue trading in some of the most difficult times. If you don’t see this opportunity, the risk is your competitors will and seize the moment and leave your business behind.

Should you wish to have a confidential & without obligation discussion of your needs, contact the writer, Paul Marsh, Century IT Services 

Tel. 023 80 070101

Useful Links

Hampshire County Council – Hants Web Business & Economy

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire

• Do your employees routinely have company data on their portable computers?

• Is it backed up or are there copies on your server?

• If lost, can the data be retrieved by someone else?

• Is the data of a sensitive nature? i.e. financial or personal identifying details?

• Would it be a problem if your company data suddenly became public?

• Could your company recover from adverse publicity surrounding the loss of personal data?

• Could your company continue trading after this?

Don’t rely on Windows passwords alone to secure your laptops and think this is sufficient, any computer techie worth his salt could crack a windows password in a few minutes with an amateur cracker taking only slightly longer.

To protect your company against loss of a laptop, you should be ensuring that each laptop or mobile computer is adequately encrypted. This means that there is a mechanism in place which will encrypt the computer hard disk making it very difficult for the computer to be accessed by someone else.

A good encryption system can encrypt the whole drive, not just specific folders or files, it would also automatically encrypt new files as they are added to the laptop rather some manual or user operated method. This will ensure that the hard disk cannot be removed and put into another computer system and then accessed.

If your laptops and portable computers are not properly secured, it is in your best interest  ensure it is done as soon as possible.

Give us a call today on 02380 070 101 for a full, confidential and without-obligation discussion of your needs.

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire

Microsoft offer licence discounts for Desktop Operating Systems, Desktop Applications, Server Operating Systems and Server Applications to Schools, Registered Charities, Public Libraries, Public Museums and other Educational Institutions.

• Academic Select       

   

• Academic Open       

   

• School Agreement 3.5       

   

• Campus Agreement 3.5

Besides recieving a worthwhile discount on your Academic Licensing needs, licencing programmes can be used to support faculty and staff with access to products for their personal use (HUP) or work-related use (Work at Home).

The licences are flexible and you can be licenced to run any version including upgrades and downgrades including Office Enterprise, Windows Vista Enterprise upgrade, CoreCAL, FrontPage, Project, Encarta, Visio, Visual Studio, Publisher and CALs/SALs.

Are you a School, Registered Charity, Public Library, Public Museum or other Educational institution and would like to know if you can make a saving on your Microsoft licensing whilst maintaining a flexible licence agreement?

Click Here to Find Out More

Century IT Services – Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire