Tag Archives: Data Security

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The 25 Worst Passwords of 2015

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In another reminder that users are always the biggest security weakness, “123456” and “password” have once again been named the most commonly used bad passwords.

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In SplashData’s fifth annual “Worst Passwords List,” the company has compiled the most common weak, easily guessable passwords that leave users vulnerable to hacking and identity theft.

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Pulling from more than 2 million leaked passwords revealed during the year, the list highlights just how vulnerable users are.

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Some new and longer passwords made the top 25, reflecting some effort by websites, system administrators and perhaps users themselves to try to force better security practices by requiring more characters. Unfortunately, these longer passwords are so simple that the extra characters mean little, particularly given how few passwords utilize both letters and numbers.

Some new bad passwords may seem a bit more complex, for example, “1234567890,” “1qaz2wsx” (first two columns of main keys on a standard keyboard), and “qwertyuiop” (top row of keys on a standard keyboard), but are easily guessable—and clearly not quite as innovative as these users may have thought. It seems the excitement over Star Wars also had an impact: with common passwords “starwars,” “solo” and “princess,” the force of bad information security awakens.

Check out the infographic below for the top 25 worst passwords and some of SplashData’s top tips to build ones that stay off the list.

SplashData worst passwords of 2015

Navigating Data Breach Regulatory Requirements

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Data breach

Amidst the gridlock on Capitol Hill and in State Houses across the country on many policy priorities, there seems to be one issue related to corporate governance that brings both parties together. In response to a tidal wave of security incidents, both policymakers and regulators are passing and debating new rules regulating how companies must respond to a data breach.

Along with managing internal expectations from the rest of the C-suite and board on how a data breach needs to be handled, risk managers now face a continually shifting regulatory landscape. It is essential that risk managers are up to speed on the latest policy developments and understand how they will influence how a company responds to an incident. In a policy white paper released by Experian, we found the following to be some of the most significant trends changing the regulatory landscape.

State Laws and Regulator Expectations 

Today, when a data breach occurs, risk management professionals need to take into account 49 different laws and regulations across states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The nuances between each law require careful review, especially for businesses that operates in multiple locations.

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Further complicating matters, many states are actively making updates to their laws:

  • Oregon recently signed a law requiring that notification of a data breach be provided to the state attorney general if a company experiences a breach that affects more than 250 consumers.
  • Connecticut added a requirement that companies provide credit monitoring for at least 12 months to impacted parties, as well as provide notice of a breach within 90 days of the incident’s discovery.
  • Rhode Island now requires consumer notice no later than 45 days after breach discovery and expanded the definition of personal information to include email addresses combined with passwords.
  • Illinois is considering legislation that would move the definition of personal information to include marketing data.

State attorneys general are also increasingly scrutinizing how companies respond to a data breach, and are often vocal if they think a company is not taking the proper steps to protect affected constituents. In addition to conducting more official investigations, state attorneys general are leveraging the power of the press to make their point.

Congress Looking to Reach Consensus

The current complexity caused by evolving state laws could soon become a non-issue if Congress is able to pass a comprehensive federal data breach notification bill. Lawmakers have made passing a national federal data breach and data security standard a priority in the current Congressional session. One bill, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2015, has already been passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and could make its way to a full vote. In the Senate, there are also a number of competing pieces of data breach legislation being debated that are fighting for support.

This is not the first time Congress has attempted to pass a comprehensive bill.

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Several bills were previously introduced and passed by House and Senate committees, but were unable to make it any further in the process due both to lack of support and not being high on the priority list. However, while reaching consensus may not come easy, there is pressure today on federal lawmakers to pass a bill, which is driving more action in the space.

Lending to the cause, President Obama is also a vocal advocate for a national uniform breach notification standard. He explicitly referenced the need for comprehensive legislation during his latest State of the Union Address, and gave a speech to the FTC in January 2015 that outlined his version of a draft data security bill – the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act. In addition to data breach law, recent high profile security incidents also led Obama to encourage Congress to pass legislation that regulates and supports voluntary sharing of cyber threat information between companies and the government. With attention and support from the executive branch on cyber security, it is much more likely we will see progress on the topic from Congress.

Staying Informed and Prepared

The reality is that data breaches pose a risk that will always need to be addressed, and until the U.S. passes comprehensive data breach notification legislation, the responsibility falls to risk managers and relevant colleagues to track policy changes. This is why it is important to enlist outside experts such as legal counsel familiar with the evolving regulatory landscape. Understanding the landscape is not enough, however. Companies must ensure that any new rules or regulatory agency expectations are accounted for and updated in data breach response plans. As a best practice, companies should review plans at least twice a year.

More information on data breach legislation and resources can be found at the Experian Data Breach Resolution website and the Experian Data Breach Resolution blog.

Most Companies Miss Easiest Ways to Boost Workplace Cybersecurity

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Despite increasing attention to cybersecurity and a seemingly constant stream of high-profile data breaches, the primary security method used in businesses worldwide remains the simple password. According to a recent study, the average person now has 19 passwords to remember, so it is not surprising that the vast majority of passwords are, from a security perspective, irrefutably bad, including sequential numbers, dictionary words or a pet’s name.

A new report by software firm Software Advice found that 44% of employees are not confident about the strength of their passwords. While many felt their usage was either extremely or very secure, the group reported, “our findings suggest that users either remain unaware of the rules despite the hype, do not believe them to be good advice or simply find them too burdensome, and thus opt for less secure passwords.

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Among the biggest password sins employees commit:

Employee Password Worst Practices

But company culture and IT leadership may be partly to blame. “If management is lax about enforcing best practices, then leadership must share the blame when workers take shortcuts—and perhaps even accept the lion’s share of it,” the report reads.

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Only 54% of businesses require complex passwords, and other shortcomings in best practice enforcement include:

Enforced Workplace Password Best Practices

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel has previously said that he “would love to kill the password dead as a primary security method,” and 14% of companies are leading the charge, using biometric identification instead. Clearly, however, there is plenty that IT departments can implement now to boost cybersecurity without adopting advanced and costly measures like retina scans or fingerprints.

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New Year Resolutions for Better Enterprise Security

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Forecasting what the IT security landscape will look like in the year ahead has become an annual technology tradition, and following 2014 as the Year of the Data Breach, I think anyone could make a fairly accurate guess as to what the major trend of the New Year will be: more data breaches.

Forty-three percent of organizations reported a data breach in the past year, a figure that Forrester predicts will rise up to 60% in 2015. And it’s not just the frequency of breaches that we will see escalate in the year ahead, but also that malware will be increasingly difficult to dismantle. P2P, darknet and tor communications will become more prevalent, and forums selling malware and stolen data will retreat further into hidden corners of the Internet in an attempt to avoid infiltration.

By now, it is no longer a matter of if your business is going to be breached, but when. The last thing any organization needs as we enter another year of risk, is a blind side. The good news, though, is that there are ways to prevent them if we act immediately.

We know that an increase in cyber-attacks by stealthier hackers and more sophisticated malware is a sensible prediction – more important, now, is thinking about our resolutions, and how to prepare against what may be lurking ahead.

Here are my top New Year Resolutions for better enterprise security in 2015:

Layer Proactive Defenses

In 2014, many businesses were bitten by data breaches despite spending millions on state-of-the-art, next-generation solutions. In 2015, organizations will have to think smarter and build security from the ground up, layering defenses rather than relying on next-gen panaceas.

Furthermore, this kind of multi-layered approach should encompass more proactive measures – reactive “detective” tactics no longer cut it. Malware has always been hard to detect, and yet I see company after company relying too closely on detection technologies like antivirus (which, believe it or not, works only 50% of the time at best).

Lock Down Data

Following widespread data losses in 2014, businesses should resolve to lock down access to corporate systems and data. This starts with implementing greater control over user accounts and administrative privileges. Employees should always be logging onto systems as a standard user, and even then, businesses need to continue to control and monitor access to files and databases with active anomaly detection. Regular reviews of user roles and their access requirements should become a standard practice.

Ask More Questions

Heartbleed, Shellshock and recently, SChannel attacks have all shaken our confidence in common protocols that underpin much of the internet. Organizations need to practice greater scrutiny in evaluating what is offered by their selected vendors to ensure patching is swift and targeted. Far more questions should be asked around vendors’ processes for code auditing and testing.

Look to Two-Factor Authentication

Many of the attacks of 2014 could have been prevented by two-factor authentication, from the iCloud breach to the eBay compromise. Organizations should be looking to implement two-factor authentication as a way to prevent stolen or shared credentials being used against them. While this method is not a comprehensive solution to address all the security threats we’ll likely face, it does introduce a much needed layer of security.

Don’t Let Security Get in the Way

Stringent security practices are absolutely essential, but they can become a double-edged sword. Locking down system access for instance, although it significantly boosts the organization’s overall security posture, can strike a serious blow to end user productivity. Security must always be top of mind for IT organizations, but you’d be surprised at how quickly appetite to risk changes when its implementation reduces employees’ freedom and flexibility. Here is where deploying strategies like least privilege and sandboxing can have a significant impact by creating a productive and positive working experience for users, without compromising security.

In 2015, businesses should resolve to think smarter about their approach to security. It’s easy to become enamored by the latest glitzy perimeter solutions and invest heavily in next-gen antivirus and firewalls. But, making the most of those investments means thinking more strategically about how they can be layered with more proactive measures and additional safety nets to create a truly defense-in-depth framework. Most of all, we must strive to act on the greatest good principle. After all, IT isn’t the only business stakeholder, and finding a security solution that allows for a seamless user experience is what will most effectively drive adoption – and greater security success.