Just to show you how easily simple passwords are to crack, below is a small list of different password classes and how quickly they were cracked with a desktop trying 100,000 passwords/second.

• A password consisting of just numbers between 0-9, containing 2-9 characters can be cracked instantly
• A password consisting of just uppercase or just lowercase letters, containing 2-20 characters can be cracked between instantly and 6.3 trillion years depending on length
• A password consisting of a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, plus numbers, containing between 2-8 characters can be cracked within 322 days
• A password consisting of a mix of the above plus special characters/symbols, containing 2-8 characters can be cracked within 2.25 years, and obviously the more characters you add, the longer it takes to crack a secure password

Leading security experts from the industry define a secure password by a few key components:

• Length & complexity
• Large variety between characters (not on the same area of keyboard)
• A mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols (if allowed)
• At least 8 characters long, but even longer is better
• A unique password for each different login

Based on these above guidelines, from industry experts, it is easy to design secure passwords for all of your logins. Now you are probably saying, I can’t remember all these different passwords or I can barely remember my wife’s/husband’s birthday and you want me to remember multiple different passwords? Well yes, in order to be as close to 100% secure you need unique, random passwords for all of your logins.

There are 3 ways to accomplish this, create strong passwords you can remember, use a random password generator, or use a password program/service such as LastPass or Roboform. Microsoft’s website site lists a great tutorial on how to create strong passwords that are easy to remember. Another option is to use a random password generator such as randompass.com and using at least 10 characters, then adding additional characters such as the initials of a website to make it password unique and random. The final option, the one I highly recommend is using a service such as LastPass, to create and manage all of your passwords. A service such as this allows you to create unique random passwords for all your logins that you do not even remember. The only password you need for a service such as this is your master-password. If you find this interesting or are interested in using it, I suggest further reading on the LastPass site and see if it will work for you.

Further information about topics covered in this post can be found on lockdown.co.uk, and pcmag.com.

Goodbye till next time.

In order to carry out an attack or perpetrate a cyber-crime, hackers resort to techniques such as phishing, installing malware/spyware on your machine, using programs that masquerade as legitimate programs, turning the infected computers into so called zombies, doing what they are told by a master computer somewhere around the world. These zombie computers are then controlled by cyber-criminals around the world, orchestrating and carrying out attacks on businesses and home users alike.

A recent study by TrendMicro, a leading company in internet and computer security, states that 25% of the infected computers belong to businesses.  In the event that you feel that your computer has been compromised, there are a few steps you can take to minimize your risk till you can have an IT professional come out and mitigate the problem.

• First, disconnect the computer you expect to be infected form the internet.  If this is a desktop or workstation it is best to remove the Ethernet cable from either the wall or the port in the back of the computer.  If it is a laptop you can turn off the wireless radio, and in turn disconnect it from the internet, by either using the switch that is most often located on the laptop, or disconnecting from the current network from the system tray on the bottom left of the desktop.This action will immediately stop data or information from being compromised but does not remove the infection from the computer.
• At this point it is best to take any important or sensitive data from the infected computer and move it to an external hard drive or flash drive.  Do not move this data to another computer or a networked hard drive as you run the slight risk of infecting the computer you moved the data too.
• Finally you should clean the infected computer with anti-virus and anti-malware software.  This step is best left to an IT professional to ensure that all traces of the infection have been removed and security measures have been put into place to help prevent the possibility of future infection.

If you do not feel that any of your machines are infected than you are in a good spot.  Preventative maintenance is key to reducing infections and also reducing the costs associated with removal of infections.  Implementing a proactive as opposed to a reactive security scheme, such as updated anti-virus/malware software, email spam filtering software or hardware, and educating users is much easier and effective long-term than just being reactive to a security breach or infection.

If you do not feel comfortable implementing an effective security solution, it can always be outsourced to a professional firm, such as ourselves, to ensure that your network, systems, and data are as secure as possible. This saves you both time and money in the long term and provides you with peace of mind, that your data and network is in the hands of professionals.

Goodbye till next time.

After spending numerous hours yesterday and today on the State of NJ website looking at how to complete this, I came across a form that asks for your business employer identification number, your state tax PIN and your business name.  I am thinking, “great, found what I need and this will be easy”.  I should have thought better, because no matter what combination I tried the system would not accept my input, it kept saying “You are not registered to collect sales tax”. Meanwhile I am sitting at my desk looking right at my sales and use tax certificate issued by the state.

Guess this means its time to get on the phone with the State of NJ and waster another hour or two figuring out how to file a tax return for $0.00.  Hopefully I will be able to get this done quickly and figure it out so once I do begin to get more business, this process will go smoothly every quarter.

This is what I get for trying to save a few dollars and not hiring an accountant, it must be the stubourn tech in me, have to solve everything on my own.  If anyone has any advice or has had a similar experience leave you story or tip in the comments.

Goodbye till next time.

My name is Alex Beauchamp and I am The Clever Nerd. I am a 24 year old from New Brunswick, NJ and recently graduated from Rutgers University with a B.S. in Evolutionary Anthropology and a minor in Plant Science.  If you haven’t figured out from this website yet, I am currently in the process of starting my own computer repair and IT consulting company, under the name “The Clever Nerd”.

During my whole college career I had the idea of starting my own business on the back burner and never brought anything into action. Ideas such as an online computer parts store, a small IT consulting company, or possibly even a remote desktop support company for home users.  During my second to last semester at Rutgers, I interned as IT Technician for a large cosmetics company with offices in NY and NJ along with other offices in other parts of the world.  Working in this environment, supporting desktops, servers, and field users with laptops, led me to finally put the wheels into motion on starting my own business.

Along with working this internship, I had also spent the last 3 years and now 3.5 years working for my colleges IT department as a supervisor in the computer labs.  I gained valuable customer service experience along with enterprise support experience while working here. These experiences, plus all the additional experiences I have gained from supporting family and friends computers finally jump-started my mind and put the wheels into motion and beginning this start-up.

With the wheels turning I began reading as much as a I could about the business side of computer repair as I did not know the first thing about starting a business.  After much reading and a lot of help from some friends and family, I have arrived at this point.  I currently have been in business for 2 months and have had a few paying customers to help defray my initial output of capital to get to where I am.

In the coming posts I will be discussing things such as the resources I have been using to learn about running a business, some of the resources I turn to when I am stuck with a technical problem, and also just some general chit-chat about happenings in the tech realm of the world.

Thanks for reading and good bye till next time.