Securing Systems: Choosing Strong Passwords The answer may surprise you by Eric Schultze Discussions of password length may seem rather passé these days. Internal and external auditors have long suggested the use of lengthy passwords to help fortify the primary authentication system in today's operating systems. Crypto details aside, it makes sense that longer may be better, and the auditors agree.

Editorial Corner

Return to basics: Passwords ... Common security problems You can never learn too much about passwords as they're the key to everything — your company's most valuable data. You might be surprised to learn that seven characters are better than eight. I have my own domain and use it for my main e-mail address. Yet, spammers love to abuse it and get me in trouble with the SpamCops. I also recently received a complaint from a reader who said we spammed him with this newsletter. Turned out the person had been a subscriber since 2004. Sometimes, we simply forget we subscribed to a newsletter. We all feel like there's no way to win the spam war, but there have to be better solutions for managing it. We'd like to hear your suggestions. A lot of things go wrong when it comes to technology and networks, but two of the most common problems are surprising. They're easily managed and fixed, but they also require human involvement. Learn about three common problems that readers run into with regard to security in their own organizations and how to deal with them. How do you like the newsletter? As much as getting a brand new gadget? Or is it like dealing with a PC that keeps crashing? Share your thoughts and tales in the reader survey that takes only 23.56 seconds to fill out. As a thank you for your time, we'll enter your name in a drawing where you could win a 256MB MP3 player. We archive every issue of The Remediator. If you can't wait 'til the next issue to get feedback, maybe the forums can help you. Best, Meryl K. Evans Editor, The Remediator Security Digest To unsubscribe instantly or change your preferences, see links at the bottom

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Last Issue's Security Dilemma: School of IT security hard knocks When we hear about security breakdowns on the news, usually a large company or many users are affected. While we can learn lessons from these situations, they’re not the norm. The small security snafus that happen more often aren't newsworthy but make great learning case studies. What IT security problems have companies run into and how did they work through them? — Jeffery, Systems Engineer Read the best advice from readers of The Remediator Digest   This Issue's Security Dilemma: Finding the right tool to can spam Email spamming is a serious problem affecting many organizations. Sifting through the software and applications on the market is overwhelming. What are the main criteria for choosing a good spam filter? What have readers' experiences been like? — Ted, Security Officer Can You Help? Share your experience. You could win a 256 MB MP3 Player.

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