Password Safety Flashcards
How to secure your password and keep it safe
What it shoulder surfing?
When someone physically looks over your shoulder as you type data/passwords.
How do you prevent shoulder surfing?
Take care of who is looking as you type and cover your keyboard/pin pad as you input data.
What is social engineering?
When you trick someone into giving up their password.
How do you prevent social engineering?
Don’t give out your password over the phone or by email even if you trust the person asking. You should never normally be asked by an official company such as a bank or tv provider.
What is ‘searching’ in relation to password safety?
When people write down all of the company passwords, in one document and save on the network. A hacker searches for a password document on the network and uses it to gain access, or it could be accessed physically within the office.
How do you prevent ‘searching’ in relation to password safety?
Don’t write passwords in a file, use proper password management software which will encrypt the passwords.
What is ‘stealing’ in relation to password safety?
People physically write their password and keep in the drawer and then someone comes along and finds the password and steals it.
How do you prevent ‘stealing’ in relation to password safety?
Don’t write passwords down memorise them or use a password manager. Not even if you intend to keep it with you at all times.
What is ‘brute force’ in relation to password safety?
Software that checks thousands of possible password combinations per second until it is able to log into the system.
How do you prevent ‘brute force’ in relation to password safety?
Use a strong password with a combination of upper case/lower case characters, use numbers and keyboard characters such as & and % and don’t make it personal.
What is key logger?
Software that monitors what people type into a keyboard so passwords can be discovered. This happens a lot with free wifi.
How do you prevent key logger?
Restrict what people can install on the network. Don’t allow employees to install software, restrict the ability to use portable devices such as USB drives that could contain malware.
What is interception?
Where passwords are intercepted by a hacker as they are sent over a network or by email.
How do you prevent interception?
Encrypt passwords prior to sending and don’t email your passwords if you don’t really need to.
What is spyware?
Software that monitors what a user is doing online. Can include a key logger and intercept passwords.
