Skip to main content

Home/ educators/ Group items tagged hacker

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Anne Bubnic

Play It Safe: Hackers use the back door to get into your computer; a strong, well-chose... - 0 views

www2.journalnow.com/...living

ad4dcss digital_safety digital_security hacker password privacy

shared by Anne Bubnic on 18 Aug 08 - Cached
  • For the home user, however, password safety requires more than on-the-fly thinking. Pacheco suggests a system built around a main word for all instances. The distinction is that the name of the site is added somewhere. For example, if the main word is "eggplant," the password might be "eggyyplant" Yahoo, "eggplantgg" for Google or "wleggplant" for Windows Live. He suggests listing the variations in an Excel spreadsheet.
  • Password security is a big deal, and if you don't think it is, then someone might be hacking into your computer even as you read this. A strong password isn't foolproof, but it proves that you're no fool. And it might protect you from compromised data, a broken computer or identity theft. Your bank account, your personal e-mails and lots of other stuff are at risk with weak passwords.
  • "A good password is the most important part of Internet security," said Robert Pacheco, the owner of Computer Techs of San Antonio. "It's the beginning and end of the issue. You can't stop it (hacking). You do what you can do to prevent it. You just try to stop most of it." A strong firewall, as well as spyware -- and virus-detection software -- protect a computer's so-called "back door," Pacheco said, where a hacker can gain access through various cyber threats. Those threats include infected e-mail attachments; phishing Web pages that exploit browser flaws; downloaded songs or pictures with hidden trojans; or plain ol' poking-and-prodding of a computer's shields. But passwords protect information from a frontal assault by way of the computer's keyboard.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Other people use easy-to-remember passwords. Trouble is, Rogers said, they're easy-to-guess passwords, too. Good examples of bad passwords are your name, your family's names, your pet's name, the name of your favorite team, your favorite athlete or your favorite anything. Get to know the person -- a technique that geeks refer to as "social engineering" -- and the password is easy to guess. There are message-board stalkers who can guess passwords in a half-dozen tries. Hackers rely on a lot of methods. Some, Rogers said, employ "shoulder surfing." That means what it sounds like -- looking over someone's shoulder as that person is typing in a password.
  • Other people use easy-to-remember passwords. Trouble is, Rogers said, they're easy-to-guess passwords, too. Good examples of bad passwords are your name, your family's names, your pet's name, the name of your favorite team, your favorite athlete or your favorite anything
  • The type of hardware being used can be a clue, said Rogers, a senior technical staffer in the CERT Program, a Web security research center in Carnegie-Mellon University's software engineering institute. It's easy to find a default password, typically in the user's manual on a manufacturer's Web site. If the user hasn't changed the default, that's an easy break-in.
  • Hackers rely on a lot of methods. Some, Rogers said, employ "shoulder surfing." That means what it sounds like -- looking over someone's shoulder as that person is typing in a password
  • Most of the password hacking activity these days goes on at homes, in school or in public settings. These days, many workplaces mandate how a password is picked.
  • The idea is to choose a password that contains at least one uppercase letter, one numeral and at least eight total characters. Symbols are good to throw in the mix, too. Many companies also require that passwords be changed regularly and that pieces of older ones can't be re-used for months. And user names cannot be part of the password. Examples: Eggplant99, 99eggpLanT, --eggp--99Lant. For the next quarter, the password might change to variations on "strawberry.
  • The idea is to choose a password that contains at least one uppercase letter, one numeral and at least eight total characters. Symbols are good to throw in the mix, too. Many companies also require that passwords be changed regularly and that pieces of older ones can't be re-used for months. And user names cannot be part of the password. Examples: Eggplant99, 99eggpLanT, --eggp--99Lant. For the next quarter, the password might change to variations on "strawberry."
  • Anne Bubnic on 18 Aug 08
     
    Password security is a big deal, and if you don't think it is, then someone might be hacking into your computer even as you read this. A strong password isn't foolproof, but it proves that you're no fool. And it might protect you from compromised data, a broken computer or identity theft. Your bank account, your personal e-mails and lots of other stuff are at risk with weak passwords.
Anne Bubnic

Blogs allow kids at Gilbert school to express feelings - 0 views

www.azcentral.com/...0080906gr-schoolblogs0905.html

ad4dcss blog digital_communication digital_youth

shared by Anne Bubnic on 06 Sep 08 - Cached
  • Anne Bubnic on 06 Sep 08
     
    Students, administrators and teachers at Gilbert Classical Academy have a new tool to express themselves that is rarely tapped by schools as a teaching aid: blogs. Blogs have been available on the Internet for years, offering Web users an opportunity to opine on various subjects and post images in a personal journal that anyone on the Internet can read. But schools have generally not utilized them as a classroom tool because officials have such worries as: What if inappropriate messages are posted? What if a hacker steals personal information on a child or staff member?
Vicki Davis

Little Brother » A word to teachers, librarians, and people who want to donat... - 0 views

craphound.com/...donate

edu_news education literature technology

shared by Vicki Davis on 06 May 08 - Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 06 May 08
     
    Free book for teacher and librarians -- it is supposed to be a good book, available to download free.
  • Vicki Davis on 06 May 08
     
    If you want a free copy of this book and are a teacher or librarian, follow the instructions on this page. Interesting idea. This book is by Cory Doctorow about altnernate gaming and this is a novel that argues that hackers and gamers are the USA's "best hope for the future." Download the book for free here, or you can request the book for your school. I haven't read it yet -- have any of you?
Vicki Davis

Open Badges for Fostering, Extending, and Documenting Hacker Literacies - 6 views

www.dmlcompetition.net/...badges-projects.php

education learning

shared by Vicki Davis on 22 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • Vicki Davis on 22 Dec 11
     
    Badges for lifelong learning competition by Digital media and Learning. Stage 2 applications are now open. this is definitely something you need to review over break if you work in education to understand the implications for your organization.
1 - 4 of 4
Showing 20▼ items per page