Technology

Weakest passwords of 2022

Published

1 year ago

December 24, 2022

Change your passwords typically

When you do not have a considerate, sturdy password picked out, a intelligent hacker might simply compromise your privateness and safety creating devastating losses and enormously painful hassles in your life.

Passwords are designed to guard us from dangerous individuals like crooks, hackers, thieves, snoops, catfish creeps and criminals getting access to a few of our most vital on-line accounts.

The safety firm, Specops, created a report on a few of the weakest passwords utilized in 2022 by 800 million breached passwords and located that many customers are making the identical errors through the use of commonly-guessed phrases.

Dangerous password selections fall into all forms of classes from common sports activities groups and athletes to names of seasons and even names of best-selling recording artists.

SPAM TEXTS ARE OUT OF CONTROL, SAY ALL 51 ATTORNEYS GENERAL

A pc keyboard with letters stacked forming the phrase ‘password’ is seen on this illustration image taken in Warsaw, December 12, 2013. (REUTERS/Kacper Pempel) (POLAND – Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)

What are some passwords I ought to keep away from?

A few of the highest-ranking password phrases and numbers embody:

password
password1
abc123
Aa123456
123
welcome
111111111
12345678
1qaz2wsx
R.E.M.
Cher
Pink
reds
angels
rays
summer time
yoda
starwars
Ewok
Loki
Thor
rocky

For those who’re utilizing the passwords above, it is time to change them.

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How do I give you an excellent password?

There are some fundamental guidelines to creating an excellent password that can be troublesome for hackers to crack into. Following these tips would possibly enable you slim down what it’s best to and shouldn’t use.

Be certain your password has a minimal of 12 characters

The longer the password and the extra characters {that a} hacker has to attempt, the higher. Some websites would require you to make your password a specific amount of characters anyway, however having at the very least 12-14 characters or extra is often a protected wager.

Embrace numbers, symbols, capital, and lowercase letters

Once more, the extra selection you’ve got, the higher. Make every thing as random as doable to maintain the hackers out. For instance, a password like ‘dpercentA$r(T496’ can be way more troublesome to crack than ‘dart496.’

Keep away from dictionary phrases

Any phrase by itself just isn’t good to make use of for a password. It is too straightforward for a hacker to take one fortunate guess from a typical dictionary, like ‘cat’ or ‘apple.’ Even a mixture of dictionary phrases like ‘blue automotive’ is simply too easy of a password.

Do not use substitutions

Changing letters with widespread symbols may also result in dangerous information. For instance, if you wish to use the phrase ‘good’ however as a substitute write it as ‘$mart,’ it is too apparent as a result of the $ image and the letter S look too comparable.

How can I preserve my passwords protected?

Apart from the easier password tips listed above, two different methods to maintain your passwords protected are through the use of totally different passwords for various accounts and by avoiding writing down your passwords anyplace.

Nevertheless, holding observe of all these letter and quantity combos may be fairly troublesome, particularly contemplating that the majority duties are accomplished on-line and we’re required to have many accounts.

HOW TO FIND OUT WHO’S SPYING ON YOU

That is why we suggest utilizing a Password Supervisor. Password Managers are apps that assist you to create, retailer, fill, and handle passwords for each activity that you simply full on-line from on-line banking to procuring to medical information. Many password managers additionally embody login encryption making it harder (together with the password supervisor firm) to guess your password.

No device provides good safety

Password managers usually are not resistant to their very own safety breaches together with one we examined and listed as a prime resolution. LastPass has had its buyer knowledge compromised within the latest previous. Cybercriminals had been in a position to get vault entry credentials which if pried open might have devastating outcomes.

A fast repair to one among most of these safety breaches is to often change your grasp vault password.  That is the primary password used to realize entry to the vault of all of your saved passwords.   For those who’ve been utilizing any password supervisor, I like to recommend altering that primary vault password proper now.

Which password supervisor ought to I exploit?

Social Media Passwords
(Cyberguy.com)

Our prime password supervisor choose is LastPass.  LastPass retains all of your passwords in an encrypted vault and provides tons of different options alongside the way in which together with:

Free trial: You’ll be able to check out the premium options for 30 days. You might have the choice of reverting to the free model if you do not need to improve to a Premium account on the finish of the 30 days.

Limitless password and be aware storage

Safe password generator

Computerized syncing: You’ll be able to add your password to at least one machine, and it routinely will get synced throughout all browsers and apps.

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One-to-many sharing: You’ll be able to share usernames and passwords securely with a number of individuals.

1 GB of file storage of personal/delicate recordsdata equivalent to passport or license info.

Safety Dashboard and Rating: You’ll be able to assess the power of your passwords and displays your password towards any recognized knowledge breaches.

Darkish Internet Monitoring: This operate displays all of your accounts saved with this supervisor and alerts you it’s present in a knowledge breach.

Emergency entry: You can provide one-time entry to a different LastPass consumer within the occasion of an emergency.

LastPass will now permit customers to log into your grasp vault of passwords via the LastPass Authenticator app.

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS ON TWITTER

Our favourite function which makes creating and storing passwords tremendous straightforward is the Safe Password generator to create a safe password on the fly shortly:

Password administration
(Cyberguy.com)

Study extra about Final Move and different nice password supervisor corporations by visiting CyberGuy.com/Passwords

For extra of my Privateness suggestions, head over to CyberGuy.com/Privateness, and when you’re there, be certain to join my free e-newsletter.

Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of expertise, gear and devices that make life higher together with his contributions for Fox Information & FOX Enterprise starting mornings on “FOX & Pals.” Acquired a tech query? Get Kurt’s CyberGuy E-newsletter, share your voice, a narrative concept or remark at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

iMessage had an outage, but now it’s back

Published

3 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

iMessage had an outage, but now it’s back

On Thursday evening, many iPhone owners (including some here at The Verge) saw the “not delivered” flag when trying to send texts via iMessage. People reported the problem across multiple wireless carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile), countries, and even continents.

The Apple services status page didn’t show any indication of trouble while the problems were going on, but now it has been updated after the fact, reflecting a resolved issue where “Users were unable to use this service” for iMessage, Apple Messages for Business, FaceTime, and HomeKit. According to the note, the problems went on from about 5:39PM ET until 6:35PM ET.

Apple has not responded to inquiries or otherwise commented on the issue; however, judging by our use and reports on social media, everything seems to be up and running again. However, if your international friends are still saying, “Just use WhatsApp!” there isn’t really anything we can do about that.

Update, May 16th: Noted the issue appears to be resolved.

Technology

Handy hidden features on Instagram, X and Facebook

Published

3 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

Handy hidden features on Instagram, X and Facebook

If you’re one Facebook argument away from lighting your social media accounts on fire, I don’t blame you. Before you log out for good, I’ve got a few hidden features that’ll make using your social media accounts stink a little less.

We’re giving away an iPhone 15. Enter to win now!

Stop video autoplay

Facebook: Maybe you want to scroll at work undetected or you just prefer the sound of silence. On desktop, disable autoplaying videos under Settings and privacy > Settings > Videos. On mobile, go to Settings & privacy > Settings > Preferences > Media.
X: On desktop, click More > Settings and privacy > Accessibility, display and languages > Data usage. On mobile, tap your profile picture to find Settings and privacy.

You can’t stop autoplay on Instagram, which is a dang shame — unless it’s one of my vids that pops up.

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Love it and list it

X: Organize people in private or public lists without following them. Maybe you make a list for cooking tips and another for gadget news — whatever floats your boat. Easy.
Instagram: Sort your saved posts into Collections — just like you do on Pinterest. Create a new collection by tapping and holding the bookmark icon below a post, then tapping the + (plus sign). Enter a name, like “Recipes,” and voila! View your collections by tapping the three lines in the top right of your profile, then Saved.

Pin your DMs

Instagram: Pin up to three chats to the top of your list for quick access. Just press and hold down on a conversation, then select Pin. No more scrolling to find your besties!
Messenger: You can pin an individual message in a chat. Super handy for remembering shared addresses or recipes! From a chat, tap and hold the message you want to pin and tap Pin. To see pinned messages in a chat, tap View Pins.

The icons of X (then Twitter), Facebook and WhatsApp are seen on an iPhone. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Say ‘shhhh’

If you’ve got a turbo-posting friend you want to see a little less from on Facebook or Instagram, tap the three dots on one of their posts and pick Hide. You’ll see their posts a little less often — without the drama of unfollowing them. You can also choose to Mute your pal altogether on the next screen.

Shake to report

Something not working correctly on Instagram? Don’t throw your phone across the room — shake it! This brings up the option to report a technical error. Pretty clever. FYI, this isn’t the place to report stalkers or abuse. To do that, tap the three dots next to a post or a username.

1-MINUTE TECH CHANGES FOR MORE PRIVACY

Split your life

Facebook finally realized we’re not the same people to our friends, family and colleagues. You can set up multiple profiles linked to your Facebook account. On the web version, click your profile picture, then click Create a new profile. Just use it for good, not trolling.

The poke is back

Technically, it’s always been there, but Facebook users are rediscovering the “poke.” What does it mean? Whatever you want it to — from flirting to just being funny. Head to your Pokes page to let people know you’re there, I guess.

Bonus: If you want to step away, try this

Ignoring apps that are literally developed to capture your attention is tough. There are settings built into your phone to make it easier. Namely, app time limits.

The concept is simple: Set an amount of time you’re allowed to spend on an app, and once you hit it, you’re locked out. You can get around the limit — but remember you set it for a reason in the first place.

The Instagram logo is seen displayed on a smartphone. Instagram allows users to shake their device to report “bugs,” or instances of the app not working properly. (Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Use an iPhone?

Before you begin, enable Screen Time on your device: Under Settings, tap Screen Time. Select Turn On Screen Time, followed by Continue.

Here’s how to set up specific app time limits:

Go to Settings > Screen Time and turn on Screen Time.
Tap App Limits > Add Limit.
Select as many categories as you want or choose All Apps & Categories. To select individual apps, tap a category, then find the app.
Tap Next and set the time limit. You can set an amount of time for each day by tapping Customize Days.
Tap Add when you’re finished.

TECH LIFE UPGRADES SMARTER THAN THE STUFF ON TIKTOK

How to set time limits on apps for Android

Android’s Digital Wellbeing works similarly. Note that different manufacturers put these settings in different places, so use these steps as a starting point.

Open Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
Tap the chart. Next to the app you want to limit, tap Set timer.
Choose how much time you can spend on that app. Then, tap Set.

Just like that, you’re on your way to less doom scrolling.

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Technology

Sony’s new PlayStation PC overlay is a simple start

Published

10 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

Sony’s new PlayStation PC overlay is a simple start

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut debuts on PC today, and it’s the first game to feature Sony’s new PlayStation PC overlay and shared Trophies system. I’ve had a chance to get a first look at this new overlay, and my initial impression is that it’s really unobtrusive, clean, and simple.

There are five main sections here: search, friends, Trophies, profile, and settings. Search lets you find other PlayStation players and add them as friends, whereas the friends section lists both your online and offline friends. You can see your friends’ Trophies, but you can’t message friends or party chat from this overlay, unfortunately. You’ll have to use in-game chat if you want to speak to a console friend, or just use Discord.

The PlayStation PC overlay in action.

GIF by Tom Warren / The Verge

The Trophies system works just as you’d expect, by syncing Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut trophies from the PS5 version of the game to PC, and vice versa. You just sign in to your PlayStation Network ID, and the overlay and Trophies are both available.

The profile section lets you view all your existing Trophies across all your PlayStation games, and the settings section is largely web links to account management, privacy settings, and PlayStation support. There are settings to enable or disable notifications for Trophies, and the ability to see who you’ve blocked on PSN.

Overall, the PlayStation PC overlay works much like Steam’s, in the sense that it’s only active within a game. Sony hasn’t created something that’s constantly running in the background like Nvidia’s GeForce Experience or Microsoft’s Xbox Game Bar.

A trio of notifications will greet you if you haven’t disabled GeForce Experience and the Steam overlay pop-ups.

Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge

I did notice that if you haven’t disabled notifications for the GeForce Experience and Steam overlays, then you’ll get a trio of pop-up notices when you start Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut because the PlayStation one also has its own notification. Unfortunately, there’s no way to disable the PlayStation notification, as the pop-up notifications toggle doesn’t affect this particular message.

Still, the overlay looks and feels lightweight, even if it’s a little basic right now. Nixxes Software, the in-house port developer that Sony acquired in 2021, helped create it, and I’m hoping this simple start will lead to even more features in the future. It sure would be great to have the option of using the voice chat features of the PlayStation Network instead of having to use in-game chat or Discord. Sony is increasingly investing in the PC space, so there’s a good chance this PlayStation overlay improves over time.