Locking the Cookie Jar™
How to Protect Against Embezzlement, Identity Theft, and Hackers
ASCII Chart (p.72)
ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It's a set of digital codes representing letters, numerals, and other symbols, widely used as a standard format in the transfer of text between computers.
The advantages of using ASCII characters (that are not on a typical keyboard) in passwords that accept these characters are:
- ASCII characters are rarely listed in a hacker's database and, therefore, increase the chances that a hacking database won't be successful at cracking your password.
- Because ASCII characters are rarely used for passwords, they are rarely used when trying to discover a password.
- Some key loggers (devices or software that secretly tracks/records your keystrokes) ignore these characters. If that's the case with a key logger that was installed on your computer, these characters in your password will not be recorded.
Disadvantages: These characters are more difficult and sometimes impossible to enter on many smartphones so your mileage will vary. They definitely work on a Windows keyboard, especially one with a separate numeric keypad (make sure the NumLock is on).
To type these characters, hold down the Alt key while typing in the number. When finished, release the Alt key and the ASCII character should appear.
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Locking the Cookie Jar is now available in printed book format and eBook format. It's easy to get your copy right now!
The Seminar
The Locking the Cookie Jar Seminar is both interesting and highly informative. It's designed for businesses to educate teams to avoid being the weak link for hackers to access sensitive company information or damage valuable data. The seminar can be customized for teams to focus more or less on embezzlement, identity theft, how hackers do their dirty deeds, how to protect against hackers, and how to create hacker-proof passwords that can be unique for each account and can be safely written down!
Resources & Blog
The book references online resources in multiple places throughout the book. You can access all of those resources here.
Incredible Numbers
Percent of Companies are Fraud Victims
According to the latest Annual Global Fraud Survey commissioned by Kroll Inc., 81 percent of firms were victims of frauds perpetrated by insiders. The costs are too high for firms of any size to ignore the threat and not invest in more means of defending the business from the inside.
Passwords are the Weak Link!
According to IT World Canada, "Just over 60% of breaches involved hacking, but that's not the big news:
81% per cent of hacking-related breaches leveraged stolen and/or weak passwords."
Average Loss per Company
According to the ACFE, the median loss caused by fraud was $145,000, with 22% of those cases reporting losses of at least $1 million. Identity theft and cybercrime—especially credit card abuse—were among some of the most common sources of fraud in small businesses. Unfortunately, however, it’s smaller companies with fewer than 100 employees that lose a median of $155,000 compared to $120,000 for larger businesses.
About the Book
Learn how to protect yourself and your business against embezzlement, identity theft, and online hackers. Learn how the bad guys do it and how to avoid being a victim. Also learn a valuable hacker-proof password technique that is unique for each account and can even be safely written down! Includes sections on Embezzlement Schemes, Hacking the Hacker’s Mind, How Hackers Obtain Your Passwords, How to Create a Hacker-proof Password, and Identity Theft. Also includes other security techniques such as hardware deterrents, PINs, transposing digits, and explains how to report possible cybercrime and internet crime. It frankly lays out how cyber criminals do it and how your employees can embezzle from your company, so make sure you know what they know so you can stop it! It has great examples and humor as it turns complex subjects into something that is easy and fun to read.
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