WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM
OCTOBER 9-15, 2019 UCW 21
PERRY SIKES, Information Technol-
ogy/Systems Security Analysis Instruc-
torCOMMENTS? Editor@upandcom-
ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200.
It's October, so that means it is National
Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The Department of
Homeland Security uses this month to remind every-
one of the importance of cybersecurity. This year's
campaign — "Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT." — is
designed to encourage everyone to be proactive about
their cybersecurity and to take responsibility for their
online behavior. As part of that effort, there are several
methods that can be used to create strong passwords
to protect accounts.
Creating an online account starts with a username
and a password. Most websites require users to use
email addresses as usernames, which is easier to find
online than most of us would like. All that is left for
a hacker to figure out is your password — the same
one many people use on many websites. In one sur-
vey, 83% of respondents used the same password for
multiple sites. If you use your one good password on a
website that gets hacked, you are at risk of losing some-
thing valuable from an account with that same pass-
word, such as your bank account information.
Below are some steps to consider taking regarding
passwords.
1. Use a password manager. With so many accounts
requiring a unique password, it is hard to remember
them all. Password managers can be used on a desktop
and/or a mobile phone via an app.
2. Create unique, hard-to-guess passwords for
every account.
a. Shorter passwords, no matter how complex, are
easier to crack. Allow the password manager to create
20-character or longer passwords or use passphrases
(i.e. Joe=Rides=2Yam$=Back2Back).
b. Do not use common words or easily determined
passwords. Is your password one that many use, such
as P@$$word1? Can a hacker guess your password by
your online information, such as your child's name,
birthdays or hobbies? Many password-cracking tools
can quickly crack passwords from a dictionary, a
famous quote, or line in a book.
c. Do not use patterns. When you create or change
your passwords, do not use a pattern that makes it easy
to guess other or future passwords. For example, many
users change the end of their passwords to the current
year or go from a single "!" to two "!!" or add a "1,""2"
or "3" for three passwords for three different sites, for
instance. With the many breaches that have occurred,
there is a good chance an old password or two of yours
is online.
3. Add login protection to your accounts. Enable
multifactor or two-factor authentication, also called an
MFA or 2FA, if available. When logging in to an MFA-
enabled account, you enter a username, password,
and something that you can only get from your MFA
device or that you can provide because it is unique to
you, like a fingerprint. If you use your mobile phone as
an MFA device, then you might have an app to open
and get your code or receive a text message with a code
you must also enter. If given a choice, the app is more
secure than text.
4. Do not enter login credentials via an unsolicited
email or website. No legitimate organization will send
you an email that asks you to click on a link and enter
your username and password, unless you just request-
ed a password reset or just created an account and this
is the account verification email.
Visit the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
website at https://niccs.us-cert.gov/national-
cybersecurity-awareness-month-2019 for more
information. To learn about FTCC's Systems Security
Analysis program of study visit www.faytechcc.edu or
call 910-678-8400.
EDUCATION
FTCC promotes National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
by PERRY SIKES
There are several ways that people can protect their accounts
from cybersecurity issues.