Welcome to our festive December edition of CNC News!

In this Christmas edition we are looking at the new Dell 2-in-1 (!) laptop computer. And, in the current environment of computer hacking and viruses, we share some very important advice on how to create strong passwords. Strong passwords are still the best defence against a computer or network attack.

The Latest in Portable Computing:

The 2-in-1! It's a Laptop AND a Tablet!

No more difficult computer purchase decisions! Shall I buy a laptop or a tablet? With the new Dell Latitude 12 Series 700 2-in-1 you can have both!

The Latitude 12 uses a keyboard case with a kickstand on the back rather than the traditional laptop with a 360-degree hinge. The screen is not part of the structure of the device and can be lifted off to leave the kickstand behind. This effectively gives you a tablet device.

The tablet is very light, weighing just over a pound and a half. The outside of the case is wrapped in fabric giving it a stylish look.

This Windows tablet comes with a Core m7 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB PCIe Solid State Drive, for speed and reliability, and a 12.5-inch 1080p touch display.

So if you're unsure which way to go, laptop or tablet, the Dell Latitude 2-in-1 resolves that dilemma for you!

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How to Create a Strong Password

The use of strong passwords can slow down or even defeat the various ways in which attackers try to compromise computer security.

There are now many ways to authenticate user access to a computer system. But most users log on to their personal computer, and to remote computers, using a combination of their user name and a password.

Most people find remembering a whole bunch of passwords very tricky. They will usually try to make it easier by using the same or similar passwords on each system. Many people choose simple, easy-to-remember passwords such as their birthday, their mother's maiden name, or the name of a pet.

Unfortunately, short and simple passwords are easy for attackers to uncover, using one of these common methods:

Guessing—repeatedly guessing likely words and phrases, such as those mentioned above

Online Dictionary Attack—an automated program that includes a text file of words. The program repeatedly attempts to log on to the target system using a different word from the text file on each try.

Offline Dictionary Attack—similar to the online dictionary attack, the attacker gets a copy of the file where the hashed or encrypted copy of user accounts and passwords is stored. They then use an automated program to determine what the password is for each account.

This type of attack can be executed very quickly once the attacker has a copy of the password file.

Offline Brute Force Attack— a variation of the dictionary attacks. It is designed to discover passwords that are not included in the user account file. The attacker uses an automated program that generates hashes or encrypted values for all possible passwords and compares them to the values in the password file.

Each of these attack methods can be slowed down significantly or even defeated through the use of strong passwords. Therefore, whenever possible, computer users should use strong passwords for all of their computer accounts. Computers running Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) support strong passwords.

How Do I Choose a Strong Password?

Passwords are case-sensitive and may contain as many as 127 characters! To prevent attack choose a password according to the following guidelines:

Don't include the username

Is at least six characters long

Includes characters from 3 of the following 4 groups:

Description Examples

Choose passwords that meet these criteria and you give yourself the best possible chance of foiling the attackers.

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Christmas from all at CNC

We hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter and picked up some useful info.

Do get in touch with your feedback and any ideas for future articles. We love to hear from you!

You can call us on 01273 384100 or email us at sales@cnc-ltd.co.uk if you want any further information on the products and service that we can provide.

Computer & Network Consultants Ltd, Unit 9 Riverside Business Centre, Brighton Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6RE