Sidebar: Password Security
So why is using just a simple user ID/password not considered a secure method of authentication? It turns
out that this single-factor authentication is extremely easy to compromise. Good password policies must
be put in place in order to ensure that passwords cannot be compromised. Below are some of the more
common policies that organizations should put in place.
• Require complex passwords. One reason passwords are compromised is that they can be easily guessed. A recent study
found that the top three passwords people used in 2012 were password, 123456 and 12345678.1 A password should not
be simple, or a word that can be found in a dictionary. One of the first things a hacker will do is try to crack a password