login

Mon
29
Jan
John Lister's picture

26 Billion User Records Compromised

A leak of around 26 billion user records has been labeled "the mother of all breaches." It's a major reminder of the downsides of reusing the same passwords on multiple sites. The collection of records is not a single stolen database. Instead, it ... appears to be a massive compilation of databases that have either been leaked before or sold on the black market. The database was spotted online by security researchers, likely a sign that whoever compiled it screwed up somewhere by mistakenly making it accessible. The researchers noted the database was extremely well indexed and organized. The ... (view more)

Tue
28
Jun
John Lister's picture

Password Manager Goes Passwordless

Password manager LastPass will let users prove their identity with a biometric login rather than a master password. It could overcome one of the off-putting points for some users. Like most password managers, LastPass lets users store passwords for ... other websites in a secure vault that's encrypted in a way that means even LastPass itself can't access the information. It's protected with a master password that gives the service its name, the logic being it's the last password a user will ever need to remember. That does mean the master password needs a bit of a Goldilocks quality. It needs to ... (view more)

Mon
14
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

How to: Reset Any Password: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10

Infopackets Reader 'ltb223' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a Windows 7 Pro computer which I haven't used for a long time. Now I want to use it, but I cannot remember my password. It has only one user account, so I believe I need to reset the admin ... password. Is there anyway to recover the lost password or am I stuck with reinstalling Windows and losing all previous data and programs? " My response: It's possible to reset the admin password, or any user password using a special password reset 'trick', known as the 'utilman' and 'sticky keys' exploit. This exploit ... (view more)

Wed
01
Jul
John Lister's picture

25 Android Apps Steal Facebook Passwords

Google has removed 25 malicious Android apps which tried to steal user Facebook logins. As always, it's worth checking devices to see if these apps are installed, because they won't automatically uninstall from phones even being ousted from the Play ... Store. This particular batch of apps didn't have a common subject, but each promised to carry out a basic function, including: a flashlight, file cleaner, or card game. Hidden deep inside each app was malicious software that ran behind the scenes. The malware came alive each time an app was opened on the phone, specifically checking to see if the ... (view more)

Fri
13
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Explained: How to Use Roboform (Step by Step)

Infopackets Reader Renate L. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you so much for helping me with my computer with your remote support service. You are life saver! Question: you recently installed Roboform to help me remember my passwords, but I'm afraid ... I've made a mess of things. For example, I somehow managed to save 3 different Roboform logins (passcards) for my online banking site - and none of them work! I'd like to fix this so I have 1 working login, otherwise I'm going to be really confused moving forward. Is it possible for you to put together a brief how-to guide on how to use Roboform? I'd ... (view more)

Fri
25
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Seagate NAS Reset Admin Password

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I own a Seagate 4 Bay NAS (network attached storage) and I forgot my admin password. The admin user allows me to create and delete network shares, plus a lot of other options - which, as I recall, ... are currently missing from the NAS control panel. I've tried resetting my password from the NAS web control panel, which then takes me to the Seagate website, but this hasn't restored full admin access to my account. I don't know what to do! I need access to this part of the control panel so I can make some configuration changes. Can you help? " My ... (view more)

Thu
22
Nov
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Moves Towards Password-Free Logins

Microsoft has announced several steps towards a world without passwords. It not so much a revolution at this stage, compared to a few measures towards convenience. The changes involve the way people login to Microsoft services such as the online ... edition of Office, Skype, Edge browser and the Xbox Live gaming service (on PCs) - all of which work via a single Microsoft account. Microsoft is building on "Windows Hello," an existing system for logging into a Windows 10 PC using a PIN code, facial recognition or a fingerprint reader, rather than relying on a password. Physical Keys An ... (view more)

Tue
05
Jun
John Lister's picture

Browsers to Support Fingerprint Logins to Websites

Google's Chrome browser may soon support biometric logins to websites such as fingerprints. It follows on from Firefox becoming the first major browser to support biometric logins just a few weeks ago. Both browsers are supporting "WebAuthn," a web ... standard for authenticating logins without passwords. While it's a big step, it's only half the journey as the standard also has to be supported by the websites in question. (Source: digitaltrends.com ) The standard has been jointly developed by two key groups. The World Wide Web Consortium is the main body that develops standards for ... (view more)

Mon
02
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: VM Can't Connect to Windows Server (No Trust Relationship)

Infopackets Reader Jeff L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a Windows 7 machine I'm trying to virtualize, which is connected to a Windows Server 2012 network. The issue I'm having is that the newly created virtual machine works fine after it's been ... virtualized but later it won't work. Whenever I try and login to the network, I receive an error message ' The security database on the server does not have a computer account for this workstation trust relationship. ' I am using VMWare Workstation as the hypervisor. I have tried everything I can think of to fix this but there is absolutely no way for ... (view more)

Wed
05
Oct
John Lister's picture

Should You Use a Password Manager?

Lately we've been posting a lot of articles about websites and services that have been hacked . One of the primary recommendations we have also repeated is that users should use unique and hard-to-guess passwords for each site, as this will help to ... prevent any further breaches. The reasoning is that if user account data is stolen on one site ( Yahoo is a good example ), the same username and passwords may also be valid on other sites - but only if users are using the same account names, passwords or password hints. Unfortunately this is often the case, because using the same passwords on ... (view more)

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - login