What do nuclear missiles and your Wi-Fi have in common? Apparently, not much, except maybe … a really bad password. Take a guess which of the following was actually once used as a real computer password at a U.S. nuclear missile site for years: A) Password123, B) LetMeIn C) 00000000, or D) GodMode4Launch.
The answer: C) 00000000. Yep. During the Cold War, U.S. nukes were protected by a password flimsier than a free yogurt lid. Eight zeroes. Because nothing says “nuclear deterrent” like the digital version of leaving your front door open with a sticky note that says, “Please don’t.”
Why? Because military leaders were afraid complicated codes would slow down a launch in a real emergency. The Permissive Action Links (PALs), which are supposed to prevent unauthorized missile launches, were set to all zeros from 1962 to 1977. So for over a decade, the keys to global annihilation could have been guessed by a toddler.
Which brings me to my point. Even the government’s best and brightest make silly mistakes with passwords. Don’t you do it! A password of at least 8 characters, which includes both caps and lower case letters, numbers and symbols is good. Better is 12 characters.
And remember, the days of using your spouse’s middle name are over.
Increase Your Professionalism Online
If you want a simple way to step up your business or personal branding, don’t overlook one of the most critical elements of communication: a customized email address. Whether you run a brick-and-mortar business, an income-generating blog, or maybe you want to update your resume for that next big role, you need a consistent brand identity and an email that perfectly matches what you do.
Email has become a primary mode of communication because it’s free and effective. An official business email will make you look more established and will encourage new customers to take you seriously. While your vintage Hotmail address might have worked a couple of years ago, now is the time to upgrade in order to look more savvy, professional, and polished.
It’s a no-brainer that a generic Gmail or Yahoo address not only looks unprofessional now-a-days, but will also likely get lost in cluttered inboxes. On the other hand, an email address with your name or company can draw in more people as they are more likely to open your messages if they can easily identify you in the endless barrage of daily notifications.
There are two types of email address available:
- Hosted Email which is stored on our server until you call for it through webmail, an email application (like Thunderbird or Outlook) or another method. You can send or receive email through this method.
- Forwarded Email which is not stored on our server, but rather is simply relayed or forwarded to another email account. You can only receive email from a forwarded account, yourdomain.com emails are forwarded on to your gmail, hotmail or other account, for instance. We can also forward to multiple emails simultaneously.
If you are hosted by AmeriWeb Hosting, we include your official business email free. Both hosted and forwarded. And we include some effective spam filtering as well. Contact us with any questions!
