Privacy in a Public world...of facebook

Just ask around in your class or your office who is not on facebook or orkut or myspace or whatever your favorite WWW "space"...doubt if many will raise their hands. Well, with information floating around in the public world of FB, and the web in general -- there is not much you can do to hide, but there is some help...some help that will help keep your information more private to the circle of friends, and less public to the 'public'.

I ran into this neat article on how to use the security settings in Facebook -- worth reading, and surely worth configuring your profile accordingly: More here:
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

Rule of thumb: "Don't post anything that might embarrass/hurt/annoy/tick-off yourself or someone you may know" :)

security vs. usability

Information assurance or security is always a balance between:
"Usability" and "the level of Security", Scott Adams sums it up pretty well in this cartoon. Enjoy!

Mirror mirror on the wall...which is the strongest password of them all

Passwords are the one of the simplest and most easy-to-use forms of providing security. Everyone uses at least 5-6 passwords, some simple, some strong -- have you ever wondered how strong your password is? I can came across this really cool utility (Password Checker) that checks the strength of your passwords. Check here:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx

Not a bad idea to check the strength here, before you create a new login/password when you enroll for any online service :)