The Dragon that Guards the Data: No Pet Names in Passwords!


I normally assume my Windows updates will occur with a minimum of fuss and bother, and in fact it took me several rounds to even realize what was going on this morning. I kept getting an “updates ready to install” notice, and I kept telling it to install. I was too busy with morning activities…
It’s a bit popular to wait on updates due to the fact that some updates bring problems with them. I tend to wait a day or two so that the worst bugs can be found before I submit myself to the suffering. But waiting a significant period of time, or just ignoring updates, is very…
I think this article on MSNBC’s Red Tape Chronicles is good reading for the non-technically oriented. I have already encountered some of the programs mentioned on various computers. This should just be another warning to: Keep your anti-virus products up to date Keep your backups current Be very careful what you download from the internet…
I’m going to link to a post from SmarterMSP.com, but I want to summarize here. Most of my clients won’t benefit that much from the linked article. They need to follow my much simpler rule set: This is only going to get worse. AI allows even people who are not very clever to create clever…
Barracuda, whose software I use for the IT side of my business provides a checklist for response to ransomware attacks. This checklist is aimed at managed service providers, which is what I have done since 1995, though I’m slowing down now. I had two clients in that time hit by ransomware attacks. Both recovered, primarily…
SmartPlanet has a list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011. It’s good to read the comments as well. Computer people tend to make the error of thinking that any password that’s hard to guess is good, and the harder the better. But the fact is that people tend to write down passwords that are…