22 Jan 2010

Passwords 'key to data security'

Firms must ensure their staff are aware of the dangers of having easy to guess passwords.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said data security should be a top concern for all companies at all times and it is therefore imperative they relate this to their employees, who, after all, are the ones working with their systems day-to-day and who could feasibly put a business at risk.

He commented: "Hackers know the most common passwords used by the public and so can automatically bombard an online account with hundreds, if not thousands, of predictable choices to see if any of them work."

According to McAfee Labs, the global threat level posed by malicious software has now been raised to "critical".

The firm noted the threat level was raised in response to a Microsoft Internet Explorer flaw that was exploited by hackers to attack over 34 companies' IT infrastructure earlier this month.