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How to Create Super-Strong Passwords to Protect Yourself From the ‘Heartbleed’ Security Bug

Published

8 years ago

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security

Earlier this week, a massive security bug known as Heartbleed had been discovered— a vulnerability that could allow intruders to trick servers into spewing out your personal data.

Heartbleed is particularly dangerous because it extends much deeper than just a bug within an app that can be easily updated.
It’s a problem with the technology that powers the services that transmit secure information from websites such as Gmail and Facebook.
The Heartbleed bug affects versions of OpenSSL, a popular data encryption standard that powers a large chunk of the Web. The flaw was initially spotted by the team at security firm Codenomicon and Google Security’s Neel Mehta. OpenSSL has issued an emergency update since, but it’s still worth taking the extra steps to make sure your personal data is protected.

The best way to protect yourself against the Heartbleed bug is to not only update your important passwords, but to also make sure you’re choosing strong passwords that can’t be easily discovered. Here are some tips and tricks to help you create reliable passwords that are impossible to guess.

Make sure your password is long enough
The more characters there are in your password, the more difficult it could be to guess. Both Google and Microsoft advise that lengthier passwords are more secure, and Microsoft suggests that your password should be at least eight characters in length. Most websites will have some type of minimum requirement when creating a password to ensure you don’t end up with an easy-to-guess four character password.

Try to make it as randomized as possible
A long password is useless if it’s a common word or phrase that can be easily guessed. It’s best to use a randomized series of characters that include a mix of letters, numbers and symbols.
Don’t use a password that includes your name or company name, and if possible try to create a password that isn’t a real word. Your password should contain a variety of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols.

Replace correctly spelled words with misspellings
If you’re going to use words or phrases in your password, misspelling them is a great way to make them more difficult to guess. You can do this by adding symbols and numbers in place of letters. For example, if you want to use the phrase “I love soccer” in your password, you should change it to something like “1LuvSoCC3r!1” to make it more secure.

Don’t use the same passwords for multiple accounts
You never want to use the same password for multiple accounts. If an attacker discovers one password, he or she will have access to all of your important profiles and accounts if you use the same code for each website or app. You should also make sure each password is different from your previous passwords or other existing passwords.

Avoid passwords like this
If you’re still unsure about what makes a strong password different from a weak password, here are some examples of passwords you should never use. Codes like “abc1234,” “password,” “admin,” “iloveyou” and “aaaaaa” were the most popular passwords that had been discovered after Adobe’s systems were hacked in December.

Create a password by making up a sentence
Another excellent way to come up with a strong password that’s difficult to guess is to think of a sentence you can easily remember, as Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science suggests.
For example, take a sentence like “My favorite animal is the koala bear.” Now take the first letter of each word in the sentence, throw in some punctuation and replace some of those letters with numbers for variety. That sentence can be converted into a password like this: mFA1tkB!.

Use these apps and tools to create and manage passwords
Even after following the tips listed above, it can be difficult to brainstorm secure passwords that you won’t forget. Luckily there are trustworthy apps and services that can do this for you.

LastPass, for example, lets you store and manage all of your important passwords in one safe spot. The app encrypts your data and password list so that no one can read them, and there’s an option for different types of two-factor authentication. It also includes a password generator that creates randomized passcodes that are nearly impossible to guess. The free desktop version prompts you to save your password in LastPass whenever you login to a new website, but you’ll need a premium subscription ($12 per year) to use the mobile version.

By the way, LastPass has a handy tool that can tell you if a site you use was affected by Heartbleed.

1Password is another great option for those seeking extra protection. The 1Password app
($17.99) offers many features similar to that of LastPass, including a password generator and secure encryption. There’s also a browser extension that syncs with your desktop.

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A conference on blockchain and health is scheduled to be held at the Africa Blockchain Developers Call.

Published

5 years ago

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September 29, 2020

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The Africa Blockchain Developers Call (ABDC) Pan-African Bootcamp on blockchain technology has declared its intention to hold a weekend conference on incorporating blockchain technology into Africa’s health sector.

In an attempt to execute comprehensive blockchain training sessions and promote the implementation of specially designed applications for different sectors in Africa, the Bootcamp, officially launched on 5 September, has taken on a host of African developers.

The Bootcamp also features virtual weekend conferences on many use-cases for blockchain. These conferences are aimed at encouraging creative and comprehensive discussions on the implementation of blockchain technology in Africa, including platform presentations by businesses and panel sessions on many Blockchain issues. The first meeting, focusing on Blockchain in Finance, took place on September 5. It featured a keynote speech given by Professor Anicia Peters, University of Namibia Pro-Vice Chancellor for Science, Innovation and Development.

The next conference, scheduled to take place on October 3rd, will focus on the theme: Blockchain in Health. The keynote speech will be given by Arnab Paul, President of the Kolkata Chapter in India. Several organizations and startups will also give platform presentations via their representatives based on medical use cases for blockchain technology.

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Pan-African incubator, MEST Africa to invest $700k in its Class of 2020

Published

5 years ago

on

September 24, 2020

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After graduating its 2020 class a month ago, MEST Africa, the Pan-African incubator, revealed that it will invest $100k each in seven start-ups.

In the final pitching event, fifteen teams participated, but only seven were picked, adding $700k to the overall funding round for this class.

In addition to the funding, start-ups can also participate in the ongoing incubation programme at MEST.

Ashwin Ravichandran, managing director of MEST Africa, had this to say, speaking about the range.

This was the first time that our entrepreneurs were educated online and away from our campus for the most part, and I’m proud to say they came out stronger than ever. We are incredibly excited about the 7 companies in which we have chosen to invest and look forward to continuing our support and mentorship as they start their companies across the continent.

The seven startups include:

Shopa, a last-mile ordering and delivery startup for informal retailers in Africa.

Heny, a forum to explore new flavors and perspectives for young professionals by changing the way diners eat.

Boxconn, a network that offers companies and individuals access to a list of confirmed distribution partners nearest to them, instantly delivers packages from one location to another.

KPILens, a start-up that automates the documentation, tracking and assessment process for development organizations and makes it simpler.

Tendo, an online network that ties independent resellers to companies, aims to tackle two of the biggest issues facing Africa: unemployment and gender inequality.

Joovlin, helps fintech platforms and merchants increase their sales by interconnecting mobile wallet users and allowing them to transact with each other.

Eleka, streamlines onboarding procedures for customers that are fraught with lengthy and expensive labor measures.

Move In Rentals, Credia, Uyolo, VendoorPro, Trastea, Cornerstock, Colibri, and JidiTrust are the other startups that didn’t receive funding from MEST.

Last year, MEST invested $100k in eleven startups while celebrating its 11th year in business. The sum, $1.1 million, represented the organization’s largest single cohort investment.

And although the amount this year is $400k smaller, the selected startups will have the opportunity to enter the incubator ‘s portfolio of over 40 startups across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

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The Impact of Technology in Boosting Education

Published

5 years ago

on

June 25, 2020

By

tech education

The COVID-19 situation has shaped the global education system. Technology has affected our lives in almost every way. One of the most important revolutionary changes technology has made is with education. Classrooms now have smart-boards, students have tablets accessible as learning tools, and technology today makes distance learning and acquiring a degree easier than ever.

Universities like NC IUL is one of the few among many offering online degree acquisitions that are equally as accredited as the traditional, offline ones. Technology continuously improves the way we learn and the speed at which we can access huge amounts of information. Here is a quick overview of how technology has affected education and how it might be in the nearest future.

One of the most important aspects of technology in education has been its ability to create a global platform. Education with the help of technology has crossed borders globally and with a seamless transition. Online courses can be accessed by students across the world and people are able to have video conferences to offer a personalized teaching experience. Assessments are now all electronic and web based, making it easier for online students to receive results fast and effectively.

Remember carrying stacks of textbooks from class to class? Well, you can forget that now because textbooks are becoming digital. Students can have access to all of their learning materials in PDF files or online through their educational institutions. These eBooks make studying more affordable and accessible to students, increasing their ability to actually use the materials. This has been a huge shift from the reliance on paper-based books and will continue to revolutionize the way we learn.

You may not think of video games as a learning tool at first, but many of them have been designed to help students in many instances. Video games can help stimulate the mind to help with problem-solving skills by developing them to be more educationally goal-oriented. Even video games that are not educational on the surface may help us learn and gather information. This also goes along with mobile games. Many students have access to a smart device and can solve puzzles or learn on the go. Multimedia tools are also being used to enhance the educational experience. Videos and animation have created learning tools for the more visually oriented students making it more fun and engaging for those who can learn better this way.

Students are definitely becoming more engaged with technology tools because it is what they have grown up with. If you think about how most students in universities have been raised surrounded by video games, new gadgets, and the Internet, then you can understand how important technology has become for education. Students can access more information quicker from anywhere they might be with the aid of technological tools. What this shows is that the progression will be positive and help globalize education by creating a common language: new technology. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for our educational systems and how it will adapt to this encouraging trend.

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