The IT Nerd

At the end of the day, there are certain password best practices that everyone should follow. Use these rules today and immediately improve your security posture.

• Make strong, complex passwords.For starters, long ones are always better than short ones. Make sure to include numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters, as well as symbols. The more complex it is, the harder it will be for cybercriminals to crack the code.

• Regular maintenance is key.Even if you have great passwords, it’s still a good idea to regularly check in on your account security. If you hear of a data breach, take the time to make sure your information hasn’t been compromised. Change passwords regularly—and don’t just make a small edit to the existing one. Make sure every password you create is as unique as the last.

• Use a password manager.We all know the password struggle too well. Look to a password management solution to generate secure, complex logins for your accounts and store them for you. You’ll never have to remember a password again.

• Use Multi-Factor Authentication.Anytime you can require multiple login-steps to access a device, take advantage of it. This makes a huge difference in terms of your account security. A complex password plus text message confirmation? A PIN plus a fingerprint? These are great security features, and are even stronger when paired.

True Key by Intel Security launched a new campaign that celebrates unique and exciting talents from across the web called 1in7billion. A musical video from artist Rob Cantor recognizes 40 unique and exciting talents from across the Web – and shows how people’s unique features can be used to keep  them safe online.

On average, consumers manage 24 different online accounts, but use only six unique passwords. Roughly, 73 per cent of accounts use duplicate passwords and 77 per cent have the same password for over a year – bringing to light just how bad consumers are with passwords. Thanks to the True Key app, users no longer need to have the hassle of dealing with passwords. They can log themselves in using things unique to them – like their face, fingerprint and trusted devices.

Beginning today, consumers can participate in the 1in7Billion campaign and share what makes them truly unique through video and photo submissions.

You can view the video below:

A majority of respondents worldwide (54 per cent) indicated they might be willing to share their personal data collected from their smart home with companies in exchange for money, and 70 per cent agree companies should give coupons and discounts to customers in return for data about device usage, according to a survey of global consumers sponsored by Intel Security. The survey also found that 77 per cent of respondents believe smart homes will be as common in 2025 as smartphones are today, but 66 per cent are also very concerned about smart home data being hacked by cybercriminals.

The “Internet of Things and the Smart Home” survey released today polled 9,000 individuals from nine countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Survey respondents were universally worried about potential security threats from smart homes, with 92 per cent expressing concern that their personal data could be hacked by cybercriminals. Yet in a testament to innovative security, almost as many respondents (89 per cent) said that if they lived in a smart home, they would likely prefer to secure all their smart devices through a single integrated security package.

Consumers were less enthusiastic about existing security methods such as passwords, with 4 in 10 foreseeing passwords as a frustration with smart homes, and three-quarters (75 per cent) indicating they are at least somewhat anxious about the number of passwords likely to be required to manage smart homes. However, biometrics scored well as an alternative for accessing smart homes. When asked to select several preferred forms of biometric security, 54 per cent opted for fingerprints, 46 per cent for voice recognition and 42 per cent for eye scans.

Additional key Canadian survey findings include:

• 71 per cent of respondents believe companies should give coupons and discounts to customers in return for sharing data related to usage (70 per cent globally)
• 55 per cent of respondents said if they lived in a smart home they would give a company access to their connected home habits if they were paid (60 per cent globally)
• 81 per cent  of respondents said if they had a smart home, they would only want a single sign-on to manage the entire home (84 per cent globally)

For more on this topic, the Atlantic Council is launching a report today that can be accessed at: www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/smart-homes-and-the-internet-of-things

Methodology

The “Internet of Things and the Smart Home” survey was conducted in July 2015 by Vanson Bourne, an independent market research provider specializing in the technology sector. A total of 9,000 consumers were interviewed globally, including 2,500 from the United States, 1,000 from the United Kingdom, 1,000 from France, 1,000 from Germany, 1,000 from Brazil, 1,000 from India, 500 from Canada, 500 from Mexico and 500 from Australia.

Andy Grove died yesterday at age 79. He was a very influential person in the world of computing. He was one of the first employees at Intel 1968 and was the guy who was also responsible for the development of the 386 and Pentium chips seen as pivotal in the history of the modern PC. But he was also known for working from a cubicle alongside his workers instead of a corner office, and not having a flashy car or allowing executive washrooms. That earned him massive amounts of respect. If you want to find out more about him, I suggest that you read Only The Paranoid Survive as that will give you all sorts of insight on someone who literally built this industry.

He will be missed.

This is going to get expensive. Intel let the world know that there is a problem with their brand new “Sandy Bridge” chipsets and has stopped shipments as a result:

“In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives.”

That’s not a minor problem. To compare it to a car, it’s like starting out on six cylinders and losing a cylinder every week or two until your car doesn’t move. Not cool. But it’s actually worse than that:

Beside the obvious inconvenience and bad PR, this little slip-up will cost Intel quite a bit of money, too. The firm expects to see a $300-million dent in first-quarter revenue (since full volume production of 6-series chipsets won’t resume until April), not to mention $700 million in total repair and replacement costs.

Ouch. This isn’t good news if you’re an Intel shareholder. Sandy Bridge is the successor to the Nehalem chipsets. It uses less power and is more efficient which means nerds like me should have been running out to upgrade their computers. Now I think I’ll wait a few months until this blows over. So should you.

I guess Intel has a lot of cash to spend. Days after buying McAfee, Intel is close to dropping $2 billion on Infineon:

A purchase of the unit, which makes processors used in Apple Inc.’s iPhone, follows Intel’s $7.68 billion acquisition of McAfee Inc., announced Aug. 19. Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini is using deals to get chips into a wider range of devices. While Intel semiconductors run more than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers, they’re absent from phones now on the market.

This would pretty much put Intel into the smartphone game as that is the only area that they are not presently selling into. Assuming this happens, how would such a purchase affect Apple?

Stay tuned to find out.