Passwords Deserve Protection In The Workplace
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Coming up with the right password may be annoying, but it is a legitimate security concern that could be the difference between keeping a job or getting fired. NY1's Employment reporter Asa Aarons filed the following report. Job seekers or those who are lucky enough to be working are these days need some sort of password for practically every activity. Whether it's using a phone, searching an online employment site or even filling out an application, the activity requires an encrypted set of numbers and or letters for open access.
Yet those who do get hired could quickly get the boot if they cavalierly mishandle their workplace password.
"Would you be fired if you handed a binder full of stuff and gave it to some who shouldn't get it? You can create the same kind of exposure by having a weak or a poorly-managed password," says Marc Boroditsky of Passlogix.
Boroditsky is a walking authority on passwords, and his company Passlogix supplies password security technology to various organizations around the world. He says he encounters easily-deciphered passwords like "123456" or the word "password" on thousands of computers.
Also, people hide their passwords in predictable places. One predictable place is keeping a sticky note under the desk. Some people even keep it on the monitor or on the computer itself in a little file called -- you guessed it -- "Password."
Boroditsky says using a pet's name, child's name, a school mascot or a mother's maiden name for a password offers little security, as most of that information can be found in a Facebook page.
Over all, it is important to remember that a shared password is a compromised password.
"Oftentimes, that password gets into somebody else's possession. It can become a risk later on," says Boroditsky.
Passlogix recommends using password that are hard for others to figure out.
"The perfect password is a combination of letters numbers and punctuation marks," says Boroditsky.
Biometric technology, which reads fingerprints or a person's face, will ultimately provide the best solution to password theft, according to Boroditsky. Yet while that technology is developing, workers who value their jobs and would like to keep their careers should handle their passwords with care.
"It's not just a string of letters and numbers, it's actually a part of you," says Boroditsky.