Monday, 12th January 2009, 14:41:00

Think about password security, website owners told

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, suggested that linking log-in details to a specific internet protocol address or implementing a freezeout system for failed log-ins could help to prevent hack attacks such as those recently experienced by social networking website Twitter.

He referred to how automated dictionaries can be run by hackers to potentially work out someone's password and stated that a system where a user is prevented from logging in for 15 minutes after making several failed attempts would stop this.

"What we need to do is get any company that's running a website thinking about password security for their users, how to enforce good passwords and prevent people from running automated dictionaries," Mr Clulely remarked.

Approximately 41 per cent of internet users employ the same username and password on every website they are signed up to, according to the spokesman.

Related Stories:

 25-08-2010 Businesses warned to 'keep an eye' on companies who use several clouds
 19-08-2010 Facebook popularity leads to warning for SMBs to check security settings
 28-07-2010 IT managers still worried about website security
 27-07-2010 New internet security challenge
 19-07-2010 Warwickshire worst affected by spam emails
 16-07-2010 Global enterprise security market to see growth

more Security stories...

---