On 14 November 2007, BizFormBar was the third fastest rising download for Internet Explorer on the Microsoft Windows Marketplace website, rising 867% to number 90. BizForm Bar has a solid 4 out of 5 star rating from users on the website.
 

 

By : Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - One in three people write down computer passwords, undermining their security, and companies should look to more advanced methods, including biometrics, to ensure their systems are safe, a new study shows.

A study released on Tuesday by global research firms Nucleus Research and KnowledgeStorm found companies' attempts to tighten IT security by regularly changing passwords and making them more complex by adding numbers as well as letters had no impact on security.

Staff still had a tendency to jot down passwords either on a piece of paper or in a text file on a PC or mobile device.

"This is really a lot like mom and dad buying a great new security system for the house and junior leaving the combination under the door mat," David O'Connell, senior analyst at Nucleus Research, told Reuters.

The study, which surveyed 325 U.S. employees, found that a single sign-on system is just as effective as more complex schemes and that user education on the importance of proper password protection did not deter employees from their lax habits.

"Passwords are high maintenance. People forget them, people lose them, they have to be reset. Resending passwords is time intensive and costly. It takes up time at a help desk," said O'Connell.

The report suggested companies look instead to biometrics, such as voice recognition devices or thumbprint scanners, or cognitive biometrics, the latest security system that learns characteristics about you while you tell a story in the form of multiple choice answers.

"It's these higher order techniques that companies need to shift to in order to get away from passwords," said O'Connell.

Your survivors will have enough on their minds when you die, so take steps now to ensure it won't be a major trauma to access the financial accounts you keep online. By : Liz Pulliam Weston

There's no question that online banking, electronic bill payment and personal-finance software make our lives easier.

But could we be creating a digital mess for our heirs when we die?

One poster on the Your Money message board shared her family's trauma when her father died without divulging the passwords to his computer or online accounts.

"I am the co-executor of the trust and the most financially savvy of my siblings, so it was up to me to help mom. But what do you do without passwords?" poster Tuppermom asked. "And most companies don't just give you access -- it is a process that can take weeks and months (if they don't just say 'Oh -- he's deceased? OK, we'll close the account' and then NO ONE has access!!)."

Tuppermom's family got lucky when it stumbled upon a folder that contained passwords for some of her father's work-related accounts and one of his online banks. That provided enough clues to find and gain entry to most of his other accounts. The family's lawyers helped them get access to the rest, although the process took time.

The experience was so traumatic that Tuppermom and her family revised their own estate plans to include complete lists of online IDs and passwords for each of their accounts. Concern about identity theft and security, she wrote, shouldn't go so far that family members are left in the dark.

The family "learned that ID protection is not JUST about nobody knowing the passwords," Tuppermom wrote. "It is also about protecting the asset behind the password -- and making sure that if you can't access it, someone you trust can."