This week’s Tip centers once again on password security. Think it doesn’t matter? Consider the rash of recent reports such as the Verizon 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report that once again show how password security is apparently lost even on professions whose job it is to ensure it!

Talk to ten people on the street, and nine of them will tell you that they use one single password for all of their accounts (websites, systems, etc.).

After all, who wants to remember 253 different passwords for 253 different systems?

Well, it turns out that this very widespread practice is akin to keeping all your eggs in one basket. Once one is compromised, they’re all compromised. And again, even IT pros are often guilty of this same horrible practice!

Thankfully, there are very good tools available to store passwords securely (encrypted). Simply by using one of these, you can “diversify” your passwords without adding much burden at all. Many systems have clients that can sync the password database to your iPhone/BlackBerry/etc.

I carried a Palm for about 9 years. I used a very simple tool called “YAPS” to encrypt and store passwords on there, and then sync them to my PC. I’m now on BlackBerry, and have a very similar system. It works great! No problem…and no single password that is the “key to the kingdom!”