Sunday, August 19, 2012

Protect online account - my approach


Not published
28 July 2012 


Editor, Voices
Today Paper

I refer to the report "Singaporeans putting their online accounts at risk" in Today 
paper.

It quoted a survey by an IT solutions company Assurity Trusted Solutions that many users do 
not adopt security measures, such as changing their passwords at regular intervals.
I wish to give my views, about IT security, so that the website administrators and regulators do not go
overboard in addressing this issue:


  • Many online accounts, especially those used for social networking,
    do not contain critical information
  • It is not practical to ask users to change their passwords at regular intervals, as they have to
    maintain 
    several dozen online accounts 
  • For transactions that have financial or legal impact, it is sufficient to use a second factor
    authentication, or to ask the user to enter a second password.
There is still the risk of unauthorized hacking into online accounts that do not have a high level of 
security. It is better to clarify that hacking is a criminal activity, similar to a burglar entering
into a private residence.  Many hackers may not be aware that they could be charged for this crime.

1 comment:

  1. Is there more to this letter? Or thats all? I see three dots... not sure if thats the end of the letter.

    ReplyDelete