The 3 "P"s: People, Passwords & Protection

A colleague of mine is pretty old-school. She's not as bad as her technophobe husband, but still; she writes down everything the IT support guys tell her. And I mean everything...
She once gave me the alarm code & then asked if I needed to write it down. Of course, I have 2 issues with that kind of thing; 1) unless you have the memory capacity of a tadpole, remembering 4 digits for roughly 30 minutes isn't hard & 2) writing a pass code down on a piece of paper is not secure!
This brings me to her recent revelation about passwords to a new member of staff. Apparently the "greatest risk" to companies "right now" is the hacking of their intellectual property.
While I agree that the security of IP is a risk that organisations & individuals should be concerned about, I think it is one of a few major risks, but not the biggest risk out there. Events in recent years have shown that things like floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, economic crises & planes flying into buildings, can have equally devastating effects on organisations - even countries!
But, moving along to the most shocking part of the revelation: Mrs Meticulous (as henceforth she shall be known) keeps a file on her laptop with her login passwords to sites she uses. Said file is in .doc format & for extra added security, the name is purposefully unrelated to the word "password" or any of its associations.
So instead of typing in her password every time, she copies & pastes her username and password into the login fields.
Her reasoning for this is that "people can hack or monitor while you type, but they can't hack your copy & paste".
Riiiiight!
The Windows clipboard can be 'hacked', specially if you're using Internet Explorer - made even more easily accessible by the fact that she is running a much older version of Windows too!
Not only that - but Mrs Meticulous has a file with login details stored on the laptop! She also has written notes kept in a little plastic A4 folder on her desk. The notes contain ALL her passwords, access details to all the laptops, the company server & the router...
It's like going away on holiday & leaving your house keys outside, next to a sign that says: "Free entry. All welcome".
The lack of common sense here astounds me!
Unfortunately Ms Meticulous is not alone in this. There are numerous people who throw caution to the wind when it comes to IT-related matters & don't apply simple logic to situations.
Yes, computers, gadgets & the internet may at times be complex, but simple common sense can go a long way!
So get some & apply it!

PS: Ms Meticulous also keeps a file on her laptop with all her family & company credit card details...!

Supervillains shouldn't use Windows

I haven't worked with Windows in about 10 years & now I'm trying to help a friend out by 'fixing' his desktop pc for him.
What has been reinforced during this trying time is that Winblow$ is not worth the hassle at all & every supervillain or supervillain-in-training shouldn't use it!
It's about as steady as Paris Hilton's intellect & as secure as Lindsay Lohan's career. The only thing reliable about it is its unreliability!
If you're planning world domination, you don't want to store your To Do List on something that is easily compromised. Any half-wit minion could hack it & get access to Things To Say At First Press Conference When The World Is Mine.doc.
If you're going to be a successful Supervillain, you need something far more reliable & secure - so install Ubuntu instead!

If you're going down, never admit it. Ever!

Rule #36 of The Supervillain's Guide to Super Villainy:

• If your plan for world domination, has gone down the toilet and is dragging you with it, keep kicking and screaming. And never, ever admit defeat! In fact, pay off everyone one you can, to act as if you're still on top.

If someone comes along with a smarter and better plan than yours, deny it, ignore it, bribe people, and always butter up the stupid and gullible masses.
Of course, it does help to have built up a mass following of mindless minions, over a few years.
Remember, Supervillains are smart and resourceful.
Take Micro$oft for example; Bill Gates started building up his world domination plan, rather successfully. Millions of people fell for his first few innocent drafts. After all, it was easy for an average person to use. Well, easier than most other things available at the time. And by the time Bill introduced exorbitant licences, people were already hooked, too brain-washed to realise their folly.
But Micro$oft hasn't been the only option available, for a long time now. More and more people are starting to realise this. They're also starting to realise that the other options out there are free, easy to use and you actually get a response to your bug reports. now
But never fear. In true Supervillainy style, Micro$oft are not going down without a fight. They still have millions of followers out there, that they'll keep milking for a good few years. Take a leaf from their book Supervillain trainees. Just make sure that the leaf you take, isn't the only leaf in your Supervillainy book!