WARNING - internet passwords

zzzLazyDaisy

albertross wrote: »

https://www.steganos.com/us/products/home-office/locknote/overview/

FREE.

Also, are you sure you don't have a keylogger on your PC

How would I know if I have a keylogger?

I have McAfee security suite, do regular virus scans and also regularly sweep my pc with Advanced Window Care Professional. I also access broadband via a wireless router which (as far as I know) also has a firewall.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

PS Thanks for all the replies and the comments, very much appreciated!

Sapphire

munk wrote: »

Bleh... sorry sapphire you replied whilst I was posting

you said:


Definitely install the updates!! Think of the updates as 'patches' that patch up a hole that's present on your system. Without the patch, infection can get in (urgh though)

Some kind of non computer analogy... imagine someone has a door in a house that they installed a lock on. Someone else finds out that if you throw a stone at the lock from a certain angle, the lock suddenly pops open(!). This is basically the same as a security vulnerability on a computer.

Once the problem with the door lock is discovered, the people that designed the door lock make the changes needed to make it safe again, then make the fixed up lock available for people to install so they'll be safe again. This is like the computer makers (Apple for example) creating a patch for a security vulnerability that's found, which they then make available to everyone to apply so the system will be safe again. You just need to go grab the patch (or new door latch!) that's the only thing.

That's brilliant – thank you so much for taking the time to give such an excellent response! :T

Following the facts given in your post, I will be adding the security updates forthwith (though perhaps not tonight since I have to get up at 6.30 for work tomorrow).

zzzLazyDaisy

albertross wrote: »

Well you seem to be covered, try a scan with these:

http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-spyware/

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-rootkit/

Is your router encrypted?

Ok I'll give these a go, thanks.

By 'encrypted' do you mean do I have security settings on my router so other people can't log onto it? If so, then yes, a password is needed to get access to the network.

Murphy_The_Cat

munk wrote: »

Another smart idea is a usb keystick with a fingerprint scanner so you rock up to a machine with your usb stick, plug it in, scan your fingerprint and the password data stored on the stick is ready to use. Not tried it but sounds interesting.
Also re Murphy's suggesting that someone would have to penetrate your network defenses to obtain your Word file... not if you accidentally mail the thing to someone or lose it on a USB stick or have someone nick your computer or buy your second hand hard drive that hasn't had it's disk formatted properly or ... etc

OMG, just how much security do some people imagine that they need ?
Folks on here aren't holing the Da Vinci code / The Dead Sea Scrolls on the computer and need to keep it away from CIA/NSA/FBI/DEA/MI6/QPR/B&Q/LFC, they/we are regular people you need to take some relitively simple & straightforward precautions to keep their data where they want it.

& that for most/nearly all people, is enough.

m_c_s

As a minimum everyone should have a portable DNA analyser and as a second line of defence a retina scanner. These certainly stop the wife accessing my details

fisher-man_2

m_c_s wrote: »

or try keypass

http://www.dobysoft.com/products/keypass/index.html
It is one of the most secure with 448-bit blowfish encryption. No one will gain access, well not in the next 100 years anyway!

Let me see if I have this right. Software of this nature just stores your passwords for you (passwords you have previously used) in a secure fashion that hackers won't be able to get access to?

They don't generate obscure passwords that people won't be able to guess.

Once the software is available for use would it be a good idea to come up with new passwords in case there are traces of existing passwords somewhere on the machine?

Stompa

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

they/we are regular people you need to take some relitively simple & straightforward precautions to keep their data where they want it.

The way I look at it is if my PC were stolen, how confident would I be that my passwords could not be 'got at'.

Stompa

fisher-man wrote: »

Let me see if I have this right. Software of this nature just stores your passwords for you (passwords you have previously used) in a secure fashion that hackers won't be able to get access to?

Yes.

fisher-man wrote: »

They don't generate obscure passwords that people won't be able to guess.

Keepass will do that too.

Murphy_The_Cat

Stompa wrote: »

The way I look at it is if my PC were stolen, how confident would I be that my passwords could not be 'got at'.

Not confident at all - which is why you would change them all !!
If you lost your house keys (or had them stolen), you'd change the door locks - its just the same deal :beer:

meester

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

Im gonna stick with using same one or two Passwords that I can carry around in my head.

not good enough.....

I've used the same couple of passwords since 2000.

My ebay account was hacked yesterday. I have definitely not clicked on any dodgy emails, the only thing I can think of is that a site/forum that I have registered on has run through the usernames and passwords of people and is using them to hack accounts.

So you need to be more careful.

For sites that don't matter (i.e. no financial information, etc.), such as this, you can use one password.
For email accounts you should use a second password.
For banking you should use a third password
For shopping sites ideally you should use unique passwords for each one.

The issue is the untrustworthy third party. For example, if I order some widgets from joeswidgets.com and joeswidgets.com has a dodgy employee that steals the account database you don't want that data to be able to get him into say your amazon account, where your credit card might be registered.

Obviously on forums and so on, there's nothing to worry about, this is why they can all use the same password, email accounts are very high risk as they are the route to password recovery for many sites, and will contain personal data as well, and banking sites again have all your money.

I'm pretty sure my use of the same password on multiple sites is what got me compromised, so I'm being more careful now and have taken the step of changing all my passwords on important sites.