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TECHNOLOGY Friday 17 March 2017

How to elude Russian hackers with decent password security

MAE ANDERSON things easier on yourself by
AP Technology Writer using a password-manag-
NEW YORK (AP) — Details er service such as LastPass
from the Department of or DashLane, which keep
Justice indictment of Rus- track of multiple complex
sian hackers on Wednes- passwords for you. Some
day show that many peo- web browsers such as Ap-
ple are still not taking rou- ple’s Safari and Google’s
tine precautions to safe- Chrome also have built-in
guard their email accounts password managers; these
— and hackers are exploit- work if you switch devices,
ing that. The Russian hack- but not if you switch brows-
ers didn’t have to work very ers. After you create a
hard to break into people’s strong password for your
email accounts, even password manager, it can
those belonging to govern- create random passwords
ment officials or powerful for your other accounts —
executives. Here’s a look at and will remember them
a few simple ways to help for you as well.
safeguard your email ac- “It’s more secure and it
count from hackers. makes your life easier,”
DON’T REUSE PASSWORDS said Jamie Winterton, di-
Many online break-ins re- rector of strategy at the
sult when people have re- In this, Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, photo illustration, a woman types on her laptop, in Miami. Global Security Initiative at
used a password across, Associated Press Arizona State University.
say, their email, social and passwords are also harder are words commonly found appeared in this story.) So MULTIFACTOR AUTHENTI-
financial accounts. If it’s to remember. But there are in dictionaries, as these are long as you’re making up CATION IS A MUST
compromised at any one some ways around that. used in programs hackers the words yourself, these The next line of defense
of those services, the others Don’t include your kids’ have to automate guesses. are difficult for hackers to is two- or multifactor au-
are suddenly vulnerable. names, birthdays or refer- You can make your crack — and they’re eas- thentication, which asks
One simple way to avoid ences to any other person- own strong passwords ier to remember than you users to enter a second
this problem is to start al details. Hackers routinely with randomly capital- might think, though you form of identification, such
with a base password you troll Facebook and Twitter ized nonsense words in- might want to practice as a code texted to their
can remember, and then for clues to passwords like terspersed with numbers them a few times. phone, when they log in.
add on letters and num- these. Obvious and default and characters -- like, say, HAVE YOUR PASSWORDS It’s now commonplace for
bers that reference where passwords such as “Pass- “giLLy31!florp.” (Just don’t MANAGED FOR YOU many email and social me-
you’re using it. If your base word123” are also bad, as use that one now that it’s Of course, you can make dia accounts. q
password is “greatsurf-
er2017” (which isn’t partic-
ularly secure; more on that Google hopes to improve search quality with ‘offensive’ flag
in a moment), you could
make “greatsurfer2017Y” BARBARA ORTUTAY While flagging something
your Yahoo password, and AP Technology Writer doesn’t directly affect the
“greatsurfer2017G” your NEW YORK (AP) — Google search results themselves,
Google password. is trying to improve the it’s used to tweak the com-
If you can’t be bothered to quality of its search results pany’s software so that
do more, this is a base level by directing review teams better content ranks high-
of security that can help to flag content that might er. This approach might,
shield you from the most come across as upsetting for instance, push down
obvious threats. But it’s still or offensive. content that is inaccurate
only a baby step. With the change, content or has other questionable
PICK A STRONGER PASS- with racial slurs could now attributes, thereby giving This March 23, 2010, file photo, shows the Google logo at the
WORD get flagged under a new prominence to trustworthy Google headquarters in Brussels. Google is now letting its hu-
You can make things hard- category called “upset- sources. The review teams man “quality raters” flag content that is “upsetting” or “offen-
er for attackers by mak- ting-offensive.” So could — comprised of contrac- sive” in search results.
ing your base password content that promotes tors known as “quality Associated Press
stronger. The more compli- hate or violence against a raters” — already comb nography. Google added comment on the changes,
cated and lengthy a pass- specific group of people through websites and oth- “upsetting-offensive” in its which were reported in the
word is, the harder it will be based on gender, race or er content to flag ques- latest guidelines for quality blog Search Engine Land
for hackers to guess. other criteria. tionable items such as por-
The downside: Tougher raters. Google declined to and elsewhere.q