Sunday 22 March 2015

Technology Use Scenario - #17

"Ms. Deal does not like having several passwords for all her accounts. Because she has so many she gets into the habit of writing the passwords on a sticky note on her monitor so she won't forget. While she is out of her office, John, a student who had been in trouble in her class earlier in the day, comes by her office. He sees the passwords and down the one for Ms. Deal's email account. John goes to another computer, logs in as Ms. Deal and sends several insulting emails to other staff members. How could this have been avoided?" - (Ribble, 2011, p. 94).

Remembering all those passwords can be tricky. Ms. Deal is certainly not the only person to run into this "memory" problem. Even in this course, with all the new tools and sites we've been signing up, has added dozens of passwords to memorize.

However, writing sensitive information like passwords down and then leaving that note exposed for anyone to see is a terrible idea and a misuse of technology. Personal passwords are one thing, but professional passwords effect a lot more than just yourself. You can put your company at risk of a minor but embarrassing disturbance or a major security leak!

Instead, by using an online program or security software to store all your passwords, that sensitive information will be kept confidential. You still will have to remember one password (to the program or software) but that's a lot easier than 50! Most anti-virus packages come with this tool, or there are some free ones to download online. For a list and more thorough discussion, see here: http://nyti.ms/18lvAkG

3 comments:

  1. Hi Matt,

    I know what you mean about all these passwords in this class it gets pretty crazy- I have gotten into the habit of keeping a note in my iphone for important information like that. I think you're right that Ms. Deal should have used one of those programs you mentioned to keep her passwords safe as opposed to out in the open like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Matt,

    I agree that you also mention about we are also have to remember new password while we are using many new tools in this course. I probably have the same problem as Ms. Deal, but more or less, I think that she shouldn't write down all her passwords on a mirror or anywhere since the result of loss the notes is unpredictable. Furthermore, John is shouldn't access to Ms, Deal account because it contains the privacy problem. To aware the password problem, I think Ms. Deal should try to use some way to remind herself, maybe she can write down in somewhere only she knows or use a set of password, so that she would be able to try few times whenever she forgot.

    Thanks for your sharing!
    Betty

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Matt,

    I totally agree with your potential solution for keeping passwords secure and private. I think the teacher made a silly error by writing down her password. Passwords should be kept intangible unless they are stored in a secure, professional system or software.

    Thanks for sharing!

    -Alex

    ReplyDelete