Mark Litin is our Computer Repair and Network Support member. Mark presented us with a discussion about internet security and password protection. Mark stated that over 60% of the internet traffic is people who are trying to hack into other peoples computer systems. They have developed sophisticated decrypting software aimed at hacking security passwords. The common combinations of 8 total letters and numbers are no longer sufficient protection. Mark passed out a sheet of suggested letters (upper and lower case), numbers and special characters that should be incorporated into our passwords along with increasing the total characters to 12 to 16. He also mentioned our not using the same password for more than 1 or 2 accounts.

He gave us the websites that we could use to test the strength of passwords we select. He also gave us several suggestions of resources we could use to store our passwords because of how burdensome it can be to try to remember all the different passwords for our different accounts. He reminded us of the recent security breaches at major retailers and banks as examples that even what appears to be secure sites, can be hacked and data compromised.

Remember Mark Litin and Computer Nirvana when you hear you associates mention that they are looking for computer repair or network support.