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EPTE Newsletter from Japan: Too Many Passwords

I was updating DKN Research’s Web page the other day and received a failure notice when I tried to upload a few new pages. The alert indicated that my login or password was incorrect. No big deal, I probably entered the wrong password. I tried a second time, making sure to type slowly and accurately, but got the same error message. So, I tried a third time and still received the same incorrect password message box. Now I’m a little nervous because everything was working just 30 minutes previous. I’m the network administrator, but have no idea what the problem could be. After a fourth attempt and the same error, I click on the “forgot password” link, but the same message box pops up on my screen. I tried everything in my “toolbox” to try and fix the problem, but finally had to phone a friend. My friend is a high-tech guru and he dove right into my hard drive by checking the security software from my computer, the network, and the site provider. He was stumped too, and we both were about to raise the white flag. He made one final attempt by rebooting the computer. It worked! I later found out there is an acronym for this type of fix, POPO, or power off; power on. Something as simple as this wasted almost six hours of my time because things came to a grinding halt when our network was down. Passwords are a necessary evil in today’s high-tech world. Without passwords, anyone can gain access to private information, e-mail accounts, banking account numbers, and more. Organizing these passwords is an administrative task that is tedious, but necessary. The total number of passwords I have is over 100 and each is organized on a five-page Excel spreadsheet. Many companies that require passwords to access your information on their servers are recommending a combination of upper case and lower case letters along with special characters and numbers, for a total of more than eight digits. They recommend staying away from birthdays, family names, or other popular phrases (password, 123456, etc.). If this isn’t complicated enough, they also want you to change your password on a regular basis. So, all these passwords are on my five-page spreadsheet and are invaluable to me. If anyone’s passwords are stolen, havoc will be bestowed upon that poor person. Can you imagine losing all your passwords? The way we store, generate, and log onto secured websites using passwords is very primitive. We should be able to use a thumb print or an eye retina scan. I know I will be one of the first in line to purchase any piece of hardware that can scan my eye or thumb to gain access to all the secured websites I am affiliated with. This could be a big money making venture…any ideas?

Dominique K. Numakura, dnumakura@dknresearch.com DKN Research, www.dknresearchllc.com

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Headlines of the Week

(Please contact haverhill@dknreseach.com for further information on the news.)

1. Panasonic (Major electronics company in Japan) 2/8 The company has developed a new energy recycling system for automobiles. Energy generated during braking is saved in the Ni-MH secondary battery.

2. Kyocera (Major electronics company in Japan) 2/14 The company will build a second manufacturing plant in Kyoto for the growing chip scale packaging market.  

3 .Hitachi Chemical (Major electronic material supplier in Japan) 2/21 The supplier will transfer the marketing, planning, and R&D divisions of Shin-Kobe Electric to improve business efficiency.

4. JEITA (Industry organization in Japan) 2/25 The organization has released a new electronic component technologies roadmap for the next eight years.

5. Molex Japan (Major connector manufacturer in Japan) 2/25 The manufacturer has commercialized a new low profile push-pull type connector, “microSD connector,” (1.28-mm high) for smart phones and tablet PCs.

6. NTG (Major ceramic substrate supplier in Japan) 2/25 The supplier has agreed to an organic substrate business alliance with Eastern, a major circuit board manufacturer in Japan.

7. ShinEtsu Chemical (Major chemical company in Japan) 2/26 The company has developed a new heat-resistant silicone glass substrate, “LED Tiger SG Series,” for LED modules with a transparent encapsulation material.

8. LG Display (Major display supplier in Korea) 2/27 The supplier has declined shipment of 9.7” iPad display panels. Shipment of smaller panels, for the iPad mini, increased instead.

9. Molex Japan (Major connector manufacturer in Japan) 2/28 The manufacturer has commercialized a new, low-profile multi-pin connector for high-density flexible circuits for mobile devices. 

10. Panasonic (Major electronics company in Japan) 2/28 The company has rolled out “eneloop,” a nickel/hydrogen based secondary battery for portable electronic products. It can be recharged over 2,100 times.

Recent Articles from DKN Research

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