Last Wednesday night at a fireside chat at the Vilna Shul, I had the pleasure of listening to Misiek Piskorski talk about his research of social networking behavior. Misiek is an Associate Professor of Strategy at Harvard Business School where he teaches a second-year elective entitled “Competing with Social Networks”. Misiek has been studying users interact in Facebook to identify their motivations and habits and he had some interesting observations – most notably, that 78% of users are active “stalkers”. That’s right – most of us are just interested in looking at other people’s profiles, pictures, relationship status and conversations rather than producing our own content.

Overall, the main objective for users in social networks is to build relationships. But more broadly speaking, Misiek covered the motivations of users, how businesses can leverage this activity in their strategy development, and what in the way of technology is here and coming to help us in these interactions.

MOTIVATIONS

Misiek’s data sampling included more than 350,000 Facebook users over a couple of years and the results are amazing but not surprising. The most active of the stalkers are men, in relationships and they spend most of their time looking at other women. This supports the theory that if you are building a social network, design it for women and the men will come, too. The sociology behind this behavior is that social networks become a tool that we use to do things that are hard to do in the real world.

For an example, LinkedIn is a tool that allows us to actively look for a job and network without openly pursuing it. For stay-at-home moms who are socially isolated, social networks are a way to meet others and provide a nurturing support system. So it begs the question, are social networks making it harder to form relationships that are meaningful or are they further isolating us so that we are spending more time behind the computer and less time interacting face-to-face? Personally, I find them an essential tool to reach out more easily with people with the ultimate goal of meeting face-to-face. Social networks are an essential enabling force to meet people and a tool that reinforces the relationships both with in-person meetings and online.

STRATEGY & TECHNOLOGY

Misiek contends that any business that thinks it can plaster an ad in a social network and get a response is going to fail miserably. He likened it to a salesperson sitting down at the dinner table with you and your closest friends and family and without an introduction, trying to sell you something. It’s about building relationships first. Start out with some small talk and connect with who you’re talking with (engage) and then offer them something that improves their relationships and their ability to connect with friends more easily.

Businesses should also consider their over arching business objectives when developing a social media strategy. Is it to reduce your servicing and advertising costs, customer acquisition, etc.? The answer to this question should provide insight into choosing the type of interaction and the technology that will drive the interaction. Misiek gave an example of how Expedia uses Facebook Connect to allow a customer who books a trip, notify his or her Facebook friends to see if anyone wants to travel with them and/or may be at the destination and wants to meet up with them. Expedia can also provide status updates and requests for friends and family if plans change.

Leveraging this technology to expand their customer base through services and special offers will allow their customers to enhance their relationships as well as build their own loyal customer following.

Overall, it was an interesting discussion about the fundamental changes that businesses face using social media and a total “about face” when it comes to using social media to market products and services. Ultimately, companies who can begin to change their business models and use technology to improve the customer interaction can easily sell to others in the social graph.

Those of us in the peace and love generation entered the technology revolution and gold rush with a bit of the haze still surrounding us. Early adapters that we were, we trusted those more tech-savvy among us when they said they’d purchase our domain name for us, register it, and it would be ours forever.

Over time, of course, our eyes were opened, mostly because of the hours spent fixing something that was only broken because of the need of some scurrilous fellow travelers to control the kingdom. We came to understand we do not own our domain names, they are leased. Safety controls prevented domain hijacking. Those who thought they had the keys were thrown from the castle into the moat (they returned in other forms, but that is a later story).

Today, that question, “you mean, I don’t OWN my domain” is again being asked by those who trusted the honest gatekeepers to take care of them.

Those of us in the peace and love generation entered the technology revolution and gold rush with a bit of the haze still surrounding us. Early adapters that we were, we trusted those more tech-savvy among us when they said they’d purchase our domain name for us, register it, and it would be ours forever.

Over time, of course, our eyes were opened, mostly because of the hours spent fixing something that was only broken because of the need of some scurrilous fellow travelers to control the kingdom. We came to understand we do not own our domain names, they are leased. Safety controls prevented domain hijacking. Those who thought they had the keys were thrown from the castle into the moat (they returned in other forms, but that is a later story).

Today, that question, “you mean, I don’t OWN my domain” is again being asked by those who trusted the honest gatekeepers to take care of them.

I’ve spent two working days this week working with a client whose domain name is up for renewal (the client needs to re-register the domain if he wishes to keep it). A few years ago, this client wanted to go it alone. Not one to quibble, I tried to divorce myself from any access to their domain. The process, for various reasons, failed. Now, no longer being in the same business, I am trying again to separate my name, identifying Internet numbers (NIC handle) and personal data from this client account. It may or may not work, so it is time to revisit this simple question:

Who Owns Your Domain Name?

First, be aware that you do not own any of your domain names. You lease them. If you don’t protect your lease and these pieces of intellectual property, you could lose them. It’s not easy to lose them (it used to be), but it is possible.

The basic process is you think of a domain name to represent you and your business. You check in the Whois (who is) database of some domain registry such as Network Solutions. You discover your name is available and you pay the registry to provide you with that name. You probably pay for a year as you don’t see why you should pay more.

PAY MORE!

Pay for at least 5 years, if not 10. Time passes quickly, more quickly than you’d like, especially if you are growing a business. Who has time to fuss with renewal every year? Besides, it’s cheaper the more years you register.

What does it mean to register a domain name?

When a domain name is registered, it is checked against the Internet domain name system (DNS). This is a directory of all the Internet domain names and corresponding computers, each of which has a unique address called an IP (Internet Protocol) address and which is actually a number.

How do I register a domain name?

As I said above, domain names can be registered through many different competing companies (”registrars”), with whom you contract. The registrar sets the terms for accepting your registration (including pricing and levels of privacy), as well as maintaining same.

The registrar asks you to provide various contact and technical information needed to fulfill their licensing agreement with ICANN. The registrar keeps records of the contact information and submits the technical information to a central directory known as the “registry.” This registry provides other computers on the Internet the information necessary to send you e-mail or to find your web site.

ICANN and Accredited Registrars

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation, responsible for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions.

Originally, these services were carried out under U.S. Government contract by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities. ICANN now performs the IANA function.

Currently, ICANN is the foremost example of collaboration (that is what this is all about, remember?) by the various constituents of the Internet community. These include businesses, organizations, governments and individuals, all of whom are involved in building and maintaining a stable, but growing, Internet.

ICANN is the organization accrediting registrars through an accreditation agreement.. This includes identifying and setting minimum registration standards. If you choose to use a non-accredited registrar, well, buyer beware.

Now What?

This may be a bit techy, but I’d guess you understood most or all of it. Now what to do with this information?

1. Check that you or your company are either the account owner or at least are listed as administrative or technical contacts. If you are not listed, get listed, immediately, now, today, This is a process, and requires some attention, but it is not difficult. Among other things, you’ll have to have a unique login and password for each contact. Don’t share the master login and password. As the account holder, you have total access. Everyone else has limited access.
2. Ensure you are the billing contact, not your web firm.
3. When changing contractors or employees, change contact information and passwords to the registry.
4. As with checking accounts, provide access to the domain registry with more than one reliable business partner or staff, just in case.
5. If your domain is registered one place and your web site hosted at another, look at consolidating these accounts. It will likely save you money.
6. Lock the domain to protect from unauthorized switching or hijacking by other domain registrars.
7. Consider the “make this information private” option, especially if you are concerned about privacy. If you are a business, this information is already out there. It probably is if you are just an individual also. Be aware that choosing privacy may result in some difficulty in claiming your domain if a registrar decides to be ornery. Private registry gives the registrar more control.

If you’d like to read more about all this, there are plenty of resources you’ll find by using your favorite search engine. The bottom line is that your domain name is a major business asset. Protect it.

Gayley Knight is a guest blogger for GMI. She is Founder/Principal of Business Her Way (a social media management company). Delighting in opening the technology world for your company, Gayley draws on her extensive network and personal business experience to simplify your online world. Showing you best social business practices and simple tech tools designed to increase your business visibility brings social media into perspective, saving you time and money. You can contact her directly at http://www.businessherway.net or via email at gayley [at] mothergeek [dot] com.

A list member asks,

Since there are only 24 hours in the day, and blogging takes time, I’d like to ask a few questions:

1. Do you blog? What’s your blog like?
2. Do you get anything out of it (besides the satisfaction of writing)? Help for your business, a job, advertising revenue, publicity for your nonprofit organization, a paycheck, help getting your work published, etc.?
3. Are you positive or negative about the whole blogging experience?

The questioner is a writer and wonders specifically if blogging will help bring her work to the attention of publishers.

A list member asks,

Since there are only 24 hours in the day, and blogging takes time, I’d like to ask a few questions:

1. Do you blog? What’s your blog like?
2. Do you get anything out of it (besides the satisfaction of writing)? Help for your business, a job, advertising revenue, publicity for your nonprofit organization, a paycheck, help getting your work published, etc.?
3. Are you positive or negative about the whole blogging experience?

The questioner is a writer and wonders specifically if blogging will help bring her work to the attention of publishers.

If you go to marketing seminars on blogging, the presenters will tell you all the reasons you should be blogging, of course. There are specific reasons for different industries. For writers, it is the more subscribers you can show a publisher you have, the more potential success a published work has. For the HR or public relations or customer service departments, the company culture will show through, the potential for larger press (the story is written after all), and building good customer relationships are possible results if the blog is done well.

Some of us, a great many in fact, think blogging is for the vain, self-serving and “bored, nothing to do” among us. Others of us are concerned about privacy and how we will look — our public face.

Should you be blogging? Of course.

Should it just be out there free standing and independent of your business goals, business and marketing plans, your mission and branding? Of course not.

A blog is a business tool - and can be an excellent one. A blog is software that makes content management easier. It can simplify internal communications and knowledge sharing. Internal blogs can be private and never published on the Internet or listed in any blog rolls.

Share industry news. Comment on your competitors’ news. Comment on their blogs, adding a link back to your blog or web site. Build your reputation as a resource and knowledgeable person or company. This is Gimbels meets Macy’s in instant time and around the world. It is not magic. It still requires work, discipline and time to get known.

About the 24 hours in the day.

With the advent of microblogging tools such as twitter, it is ever and ever simpler and less time consuming to blog. I use posterous.com (another microblog, but not restricted to a particular number of characters) to post, which are then automatically posted to other social web sites. You can email your blog post to posterous so no login even! There are a lot of other such microblogging tools and even the original blogging companies offer this type of service.

The rule of thumb is to blog consistently: once a day, once a month, every hour. Your readers will learn your schedule and look forward to your next entry — sort of like waiting each month for the next issue of your favorite magazine. I know a CEO who writes her blog entry every Wednesday. She sets time in her calendar for this. She is not a writer but finds the discipline and return worth the time.

There is one final part: the reading time. RSS is a good filter for this. I find even that is overwhelming. I take a day a month to scan and read what others are saying and then respond/comment. Putting a link in your comment will help drive traffic to your blog. The viral marketing potential is real — and that is a plus, don’t you think?

Gayley Knight is a guest blogger for Great Minds Interactive, LLC. She is Founder/Principal of Business Her Way (a social media management company). Delighting in opening the technology world for your company, Gayley draws on her extensive network and personal business experience to simplify your online world. Showing you best social business practices and simple tech tools designed to increase your business visibility brings social media into perspective, saving you time and money. You can contact her directly at http://www.businessherway.net or via email at gayley@mothergeek.com.

I was recently asked by a small town client how to prevent spam in the email. There are lots of ways to prevent spam – and if you have a good email company, you should have a lot of what you’ll read here in place already. If you are running your own server, some of these may be ideas for you to institute if you have not done so.

Spam is generated very simply by distributing your email address. The most common ways to distribute your email are:

• in the signature at the bottom of an email address,
• in the From:, To: and Cc: lines of email messages,
• on business cards,
• in online forums, message boards, and lists (which is often against the policies of the forum/board/listserv),
• at tradeshows, conferences and networking events.

There are several solutions, some more effective than others, some more burdensome on the sender, and some that require you to do a bit of thinking before distributing your email address. Bots (robots or spiders) recognize email address two ways: using the “@” symbol and through use of widely used email domains, such as hotmail and gmail (and dozens others).

I was recently asked by a small town client how to prevent spam in the email. There are lots of ways to prevent spam – and if you have a good email company, you should have a lot of what you’ll read here in place already. If you are running your own server, some of these may be ideas for you to institute if you have not done so.

Spam is generated very simply by distributing your email address. The most common ways to distribute your email are:

• in the signature at the bottom of an email address,
• in the From:, To: and Cc: lines of email messages,
• on business cards,
• in online forums, message boards, and lists (which is often against the policies of the forum/board/listserv),
• at tradeshows, conferences and networking events.

There are several solutions, some more effective than others, some more burdensome on the sender, and some that require you to do a bit of thinking before distributing your email address. Bots (robots or spiders) recognize email address two ways: using the “@” symbol and through use of widely used email domains, such as hotmail and gmail (and dozens others). Two of the more common preventative steps are:

1. Instead of writing your email address in a proper way like example@gmail.com, convert it to example|a|gmail [dot] com. Then explain it to others so they understand what you mean, like “Please convert |a| to @ and [dot] to “.”. Email addresses can be converted to anything you think is readable by humans, but not bots.
2. Encoding your email address into special values called character entities, which represent each character, is one method. Programs exist that will convert an email address to its encoded value, for use on a web site or anywhere you use the mailto HTML coding. For example, this is an encoded link for a webmaster email account (extra line breaks have been placed in the code so the width of the page is not broken – make sure the encoded parts you use are all on one line in your web page):

a href=”mailto:webmast
er@ohlone
.cc.ca.us”>
webmaster@
ohlone.cc.
ca.us

There is no guarantee that encoding your email address will prevent spam. Robots are created that are smart enough to decode the encoded address. It’s a game, of sorts, to spammers and coders.

Often, communities who maintain their own servers need to invest in these practices to save time for those running the server and email systems.

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO?

Don’t forward an email from someone you don’t know to a list of people. Those”forward this email to 20 of your friends” messages are perfect for harvesting email addresses. These types of sign-and-forward emails often appear in the form of a petition.

Avoid CC (carbon copy) for group emails you send out. If you send an email that might be forwarded on and on, it can easily be found by bots, who you can be sure will add the nice collection addresses to their spam address database. Instead use BCC (blind carbon copy). This means the recipients do not see the list of email addresses that your message has gone to – and prevents that “reply all” from getting to everyone, which is also good for email reading sanity. Encourage others to use BCC for groups instead of CC. Or ask to be removed from their email lists and announcements if they won’t do that.

Don’t use your home or business email address when you register on a Web site or in a group. If you must sign up for services, want to receive more info, register for newspapers or domains; use a free email address from a site like Yahoo or Hotmail to create an address especially for that purpose. This also goes for posting to the Web, on a list, newsgroup, on a contact page for a Web site, or on a resume that is posted on the Web. If you begin to get spam from that source, you can delete that account and open another.

Make sure your profile privacy settings are set so you don’t receive marketing from other sites.

Never use your email address as your screen name in chat rooms.

Create alias email addresses. Certain services allow you to generate multiple, anonymous email addresses that forward to your real email account. You can even reply to forwarded messages through your email account and have it appear as though you are replying through the generated one. This puts a level of anonymity between you and potential spammers. A good idea is to create a new email address for every website that you disclose your address to. If you start to get spam through that address, you know where the spam is coming from and you can delete the address and eliminate the spam.

WHAT MORE COULD BE DONE?

1. Disguise email addresses on your web site.
   As mentioned above, we could strip out periods and “@” symbols. For example, “YOURNAME AT YAHOO DOT COM.” We can also make the “@” an image, which will prevent crawlers from identifying it. You can do this in your signature file as well, in case your recipients forward your email.
2. Use a complicated email address.
   The more complicated the email address is, the less likely it is to be generated for targeting by a spammer’s software. Bots will look for the easy and obvious addresses first, such as those with identifiable names “alan@hotmail.com” as opposed to m0g33k@townofsomerset.
3. Use methodology that requires the sender to do a bit of work to manually correct the email address before their message can be sent. Examples of this include:

• username @ yourdomain.com (before the message is sent, ” @ ” must be changed to “@”; i.e., no spaces surrounding @)
• username AT yourdomain.com (before the message is sent, ” AT ” must be changed to “@”)
• username AT yourdomain dot com (before the message is sent, ” AT ” and ” dot ” must be changed to “@” and “.”)
• username @ yourdomain dot com (before the message is sent, ” @ ” and ” dot ” must be changed to “@” and “.”)
• username@yourdomain dot com (before the message is sent, ” dot ” must be changed to “.”)
• username@NOSPAMyourdomain.com (before the message is sent, “NOSPAM” must be removed)

4. Use images to represent email address
   Instead of using text, you can also use images to represent your email address.
5. Use forms to prevent spam on your website
   Forms can be used on your website for visitors to contact you. You can hide your email within the form code so email harvesting software cannot grab it from your web pages. Many companies do this now to keep control of their inboxes.
6. Create one “Contact Us” page and link to that page from all your other pages. This often frustrates users.
7. Change email servers periodically.
   This can be expensive and time consuming, but is similar to changing auditors.
8. Change emails annually. This, too, can be expensive and time consuming.
9. Use email as it is meant to be used, where there are less forwarders, and email is read and responded to from the server.

Gayley Knight is a guest blogger forGMI. She is Founder/Principal of Business Her Way (a social media management company). Delighting in opening the technology world for your company, Gayley draws on her extensive network and personal business experience to simplify your online world. Showing you best social business practices and simple tech tools designed to increase your business visibility brings social media into perspective, saving you time and money. You can contact her directly at http://www.businessherway.net or via email at gayley@mothergeek.com.

What’s My Line, an early television show, continues to hold the longest running game show record, winning 3 Emmy Awards for “Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show.” The show had a excellent understanding of what it was and what it represented – this surely contributing to its success.

Your business success depends on your line. Can you describe your business focus and purpose clearly and memorably? Are you using jargon or plain, but compelling, words? If you find yourself stumbling when asked what you do, consider revising your business description – or elevator speech.

What’s My Line, an early television show, continues to hold the longest running game show record, winning 3 Emmy Awards for “Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show.” The show had a excellent understanding of what it was and what it represented – this surely contributing to its success.

Your business success depends on your line. Can you describe your business focus and purpose clearly and memorably? Are you using jargon or plain, but compelling, words? If you find yourself stumbling when asked what you do, consider revising your business description – or elevator speech.

• Begin by writing a clear statement (don’t worry about length just now) describing your business and your uniqueness. How are you different from your competitors?
• Set this aside for a day. Now reread the description, removing all the industry-speak descriptive words, leaving only specific words with clear meaning. Rephrase the jargon so it tells your prospective customer exactly what you will do for her.
• The Benefits. Why should I hire you? Tell me, clearly and concisely, what you will do for me and how I will benefit from hiring you, not your competitor. Don’t just list your products or services.
• Write a problem statement. Identify the problem your business solves for a customer. Describe the problem, fully and in simple words.
• Shorten the description again. This time, make the attempt to get your description to one or two easily-memorized sentences that show you accurately understand your customer’s needs – and can solve their problems. A window cleaning service solves a dual problem for a customer who wants clean windows but who may lack the physical ability and tools to clean windows herself.
• Test your line on others. You’ll know when you’ve got the best description by their reactions.

Consider expanding your line. Tweak it a bit for tradeshows, business meetings, social get togethers and for your peers and competitors – and especially for your social networking sites.

Gayley Knight is a guest blogger for Great Minds Interactive, LLC. She is Founder/Principal of Business Her Way (a social media management company). Delighting in opening the technology world for your company, Gayley draws on her extensive network and personal business experience to simplify your online world. Showing you best social business practices and simple tech tools designed to increase your business visibility brings social media into perspective, saving you time and money. You can contact her directly at http://www.businessherway.net or via email at gayley@mothergeek.com.

Document forgery, bank and credit card fraud, spam, online privacy, identity theft, pharming, phishing, RFID. As we’ve progressed from telegraph to telephone to the Internet, and as we move into global communication, these terms are more and more part of our everyday lexicon.

Since 2002, information risk management studies around the world show that passwords are the least protected part of our technology — and people will divulge them for a free pen or some chocolate! Would you give your house or car keys or your bankbook to someone who offered you a free pen? Do you keep your password on a sticky note on your monitor or under your keyboard? Do you give your password to contractors or your computer technician?

If you do, you are the weakest link in the human firewall.

Document forgery, bank and credit card fraud, spam, online privacy, identity theft, pharming, phishing, RFID. As we’ve progressed from telegraph to telephone to the Internet, and as we move into global communication, these terms are more and more part of our everyday lexicon.

Techniques for obtaining personal information (without which it is difficult to impersonate someone) include:

• Dumpster diving to steal mail and personal information
• Pickpocketing
• Remotely reading smart chips (RFID) on credit cards and passports
• Eavesdropping on personal conversations at your neighborhood hangout and public transportation (shoulder surfing)
• Redirecting mail
• Infiltration into large data files or a data breach by a company trusted with personal information (social security or credit card numbers)
• Researching the Internet’s stored public registers
• Retrieving information from recycled equipment that has not been sanitized
• Browsing social networks for personal data
• Posing as a representative of a trusted company (phishing, an especially good technique for telephone and email scams)
• Using false pretenses to trick business gatekeepers into divulging customer and business information, especially passwords (pretexting).

Since 2002, information risk management studies around the world show that passwords are the least protected part of our technology — and people will divulge them for a free pen or some chocolate! Would you give your house or car keys or your bankbook to someone who offered you a free pen? Do you keep your password on a sticky note on your monitor or under your keyboard? Do you give your password to contractors or your computer technician?

If you do, you are the weakest link in the human firewall.

The idea of a firewall is to ensure that only those you invite into your network have access and unwanted guests are turned away. All the technology in the world is useless if a human unthinkingly opens the security door in the wall. Those who are intent on mischief and harm are using social engineering against you. A human firewall is built by re-engineering how humans react to divulging secure data so as to minimize errors when information needs to be shared.

Social engineering is defined as the act of manipulating people to get them to divulge confidential information. It is a bit more sophisticated than a con game or simple fraud. It is information gathering by deception or trickery: information that is used to compromise computers, steal your identity, and worse. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a wealth of information on its web site www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ to explain and protect you from identity theft and what to do if your identity is stolen. But it is the human firewall and password protection I am writing about today.

BUILDING A HUMAN FIREWALL BY CHANGING THE CULTURE

As listed above, there are dozens of ways to break through the firewall, human or otherwise. Implementing basic changes in thinking and researching will minimize your exposure. Changing behavior is difficult and there is a whole industry dealing with this. Some simple to make culture shifts include:

• Encrypting emails that include sensitive data
• Put a printed reminder near your copier to remove originals
• Keep your public conversations public – don’t discuss company or personal business where you can easily be overheard
• Keep your software and patches updated
• Leave simple, not detailed, voicemail messages
• Never share your passwords or other sensitive information with anyone on the phone or through email or even at your front desk – that nice man selling a service might be another Kevin Mitnick trying to get his digital foot in your door

Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous convicted computer hackers, notes technology is useless (and often provides a false sense of invulnerability) if you or an employee hands a password to anyone posing as a colleague, repairman, or seems trustworthy. Kevin tells one story where a man was waiting in an outer office for an appointment. He asked the receptionist if there was an extra computer he could use while waiting. The receptionist took him to a guest office where the man proceeded to install a small program that he later activated from his home computer, a virtual breaking and entering.

DESIGNING PASSWORDS TO WARD OFF ATTACKS

Begin to change your security culture by designing strong, easy to remember, yet hard to guess, passwords. The strongest are those with a minimum of 8 alphanumeric characters, mixed upper and lower case, and perhaps including special characters. Having a policy of requiring a strong password that is not often changed is probably the best way to proceed.

Password policies should include:

• Not using “easy to guess” passwords such as a family name or other personal contact information like your favorite song or birthdate or license plate;
• Not using easy to crack passwords. Password cracker software (like safecrackers) is available and programmed to run through sequences of numbers and dictionary words (in all languages) in a matter of minutes;
• Not storing passwords in writing or sharing with others;
• Logging out of a computer before leaving it unattended;
• Using different password for administrators, operating systems and applications;
• Changing passwords if they appear to be compromised; and
• Setting a chain of responsibility which, through repetition, will become part of your regular security routine.

THE POLICY OF PRACTICALITY

Designing a complex password, creating and memorizing different passwords for each application or system or family member, and special characters can cause chinks in the wall. You might find yourself writing your password on a paper taped under your keyboard. Using special characters can cause a problem if your keyboard is set up for 2 or more languages.

Password management systems, which use a security question (“your mother’s maiden name,” “your favorite pet,” “your school”), are easily breached by surfing your social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube) and then guessing at your password.

The simplest attack is to trick you into thinking an administrator is requesting a password. You receive and open an email request for a password or credit card information to “reactivate settings” or some other benign operation.

This is phishing. Scary? Maybe.

With your new corporate culture in place, you (or your employees) are no longer going to divulge sensitive information, passwords or anything else, to people claiming to be administrators, who, in reality, rarely, if ever, need to know the user’s password to perform administrative tasks. You’ll never again leave the password blank (as in no password) nor will you:

• Use the word “password,” “admin” (and their derivatives)
• Use your name or login name, or other personal information
• Use your favorite anything (book, food, celebrity)
• Use words where you’ve added numbers or reversed letters
  as your password.

YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO WRITE IN CODE…

…and here is your chance. The best practice to create a strong alphanumeric, 8 to 15-letter password is to take an easily remembered phrase and code it.

“Romeo, O Romeo, where art thou Romeo?” could become R0R?atR!

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star” could be 2TWs!t!*

Use numbers and punctuation to replace obvious letters. An “E” becomes a “3.” The letter “I” becomes “! (exclamation mark).

THAT PIECE OF CHOCOLATE

For the past few years, Infosecurity Europe tested giveaways as a password cracker. In 2004, of those offered chocolate bars, 71% gave up their password for the sweet, a bit of an improvement from the year before when 90& of office workers approached gave their password in exchange for a pen. In 2008, it was getting better with about 52% providing their passwords. While we don’t know if the passwords were made up on the spot to claim the prize, remember your mom’s words, “don’t take candy from strangers” and you won’t be the weakest link.

Gayley Knight is a guest blogger for GMI. She is Founder/Principal of Business Her Way (a social media management company). Delighting in opening the technology world for your company, Gayley draws on her extensive network and personal business experience to simplify your online world. Showing you best social business practices and simple tech tools designed to increase your business visibility brings social media into perspective, saving you time and money. You can contact her directly at http://www.businessherway.net or via email at gayley@mothergeek.com.