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Re: [RC] Whats New with SERA - password safety - Ed & Wendy Hauser"a fax is not and fax transmissions are easy to detect and decode and it takes very little work to get a conversation off a cell phone." While I've never heard of it being done, I've always wondered what would prevent an enterprising thief from physically tapping into the phone wire that goes to a catalog store, and listening to the credit card numbers being spoken. Seems to me that this would get many more numbers per day than listening to random cell phone calls. Thanks for the advice about strange symbols in passwords, much easier to remember than random sequences. Strange case shifts also are a good hint. I haven't done this, probably because the first password system I used, was not yet case sensitive. In my own case (as opposed to a bank or a government) I have a hard time believing that someone would find it profitable to steal small enough amounts from my bank account or credit card that I wouldn't notice (like <$10/month), so frequent password changes seem more hassle than they are worth. My former employer, a fortune 500 company, required the same changes you mentioned(but not the numbers, though I did that). It was a real pain and forced me to keep notebook with all my passwords in it.(eventually there were 5 or more company systems and sights each requiring a different password) I kept the book in my briefcase so at least it wasn't available to the janitors after hours. The changes did encourage me to keep the passwords as short as possible though. There was an interesting thing about the password system. When one dialed in from the field (or later through the internet) you had to use a password to get onto the system, then your user name and password to get to your account. When this first started they assigned passwords, and said that required user changes would be coming in a year. 10 years later, they still had not implemented the system! On top of that my password (it should now be void since I retired) assigned by IT was "westeast". Ed Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875 ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx 406.642.6490 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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