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Passport Protection 保护密码滴水不漏

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What difference does it make what the password is?  选什么样的密码，有差别吗？

In the world of passwords, there’s a right way and a wrong way to protect yourself.

在密码的领域里，想要保护自己，有的方式是错误的，但也有正确之道。

Cliff Gaines of Montana has lived on both sides of the line. A decade ago, he was a poster child for how to do it wrong. His passwords were complicated enough, but he was writing them down.

美国蒙大拿州的克立夫．肯兹两种方法都用过。十年前，他称得上是最佳的错误示范，因为虽然他所设的密码够复杂，但他错就错在：把密码写出。

Those are five words that make most experts cringe. How, they ask, do you expect to keep yourself – or your employer – safe from identity theft and computer fraud if you leave the keys to your life scribbled on a piece of paper.

那是会让大部分专家不寒而栗的五个字（译注：he was writing them down指这五个字）。专家们不禁要问：如果你把人生的重大钥匙草草写在一张纸片上，怎么还能期待自己或是雇主可以安全无虞地不至于遭受身分窃盗（译注：或译偷窃识别）及电脑诈骗的威胁？

Turns out it wasn’t such a great system for Gaines, either.

对肯兹来说，结果也证实这做法并上策。

“From time to time, I’d pull it out. But then I’d lose it,” Gaines said. Armed with a new system based on the names of his favorite cars, he long ago left the dubious ranks of those who put passwords on paper.

肯兹表示，「有时候，纸片拿出来，可是后来却又不小心弄丢了。」拜以他最喜爱的汽车名称为基础的一套新系统之赐，他从很久以前就脱离了把密码写在纸上的不牢靠一族的行列。

In good company  同病相怜（译注：in good company往往指和一些有身分地位的人或企业遭遇了相同的糟糕经历）

If you’ve ever done it, don’t worry. You have company. In a survey of 800 high-speed Internet users, slightly more than half of the respondents confessed to writing down their passwords. And nearly half of the survey group said they used the same password over and over again – another big no-no.

如果你也曾这么做过，也用不着担心，因为和你同病相怜的人很多。一项针对八百位高速网际网络用户所做的调查显示，大约有比半数多一点点的受调者坦承，自己会把密码写下来；而有接近半数的人表示，他们会不断重复使用相同密码──这是另一大忌。

It’s merely a sign of the times we live in. Anyone spending time with a computer and the Internet is bound to have at least a dozen passwords to track. Some must be changed every 60 or 90 days. Many have at least eight characters and contain numbers, symbols and capital letters. Keeping them straight can be mind-boggling.

这只是我们所处时代的一项特征，任何花时间打电脑和上网的人，一定至少有一打密码要记。有些密码每六十至九十天就必须更换一次，很多密码都至少有八个字符，其中包含数字、符号及大写字母。要把它们弄得一清二楚可能相当令人头大。

Just how critical it is depends on whom you ask. There is some debate about the value of passwords in the battle against the computer crimes that victimize 8 million people each year.

至于密码到底有多重要，这个问题要看你问的对象是谁而定。在对抗电脑犯罪的奋战中，各方对于密码的价值仍有争论，而每年有八百万人沦为电脑犯罪的受害者。

单词发音

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live [lɪv] v. 实践；经历

cringe [krɪndʒ] v. 畏缩, 退缩

fraud [frɔd] n. 欺骗（行为）；诡计；骗局

scribble [ˋskrɪb!] v. 潦草地书写

pull out 拉出 to withdraw

in good company 与他人(或比自己强的人)做得一样

no-no [ˋno͵no] n.【美】【俚】禁忌 something that shouldn't be done

be bound to 一定会（做）; 肯定, 必然, 注定

straight [stret] adj. 正确的；可靠的 right; correct

victimize [ˋvɪktɪ͵maɪz] v. 使受害

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Generally speaking, the risk of someone actually guessing the password to your online banking account is quite slim, particularly when you consider that most commercial sites limit users to a handful of guesses before the account locks up.

一般而言，有人真的猜中你的网络银行帐户密码的风险微乎其微，尤其是大多数商业网站都会限制用户输入密码的次数，次数超过，账户就会被死锁。

It is far more likely that identity theft will result from carelessness that has little to do with the strength of a password.

可能性更大的情况其实是，身分被盗窃往往出于粗心大意，而和密码的难猜度无关。

“By far, the greatest risk is that you will provide your password to someone,” said Fred Cate, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law.

「很显然，最大的风险来自于你可能不自知地把密码提供给某人，」「印第安纳大学」法学院教授佛瑞德．凯特如此表示。

Help!  救命啊！

“In the old days, you would have to go from trash can to trash can looking for information. Today you can write a program that does all the work for you,” said Todd Feinman, CEO of a firm that specializes in safeguarding personal info.

泰德．方曼指出，「在过去，你必须翻遍一个个垃圾桶好寻找数据；但现在你只要写一个替你执行所有任务的程序就好了。」泰德．方曼是一家专精于保护个人资料公司的执行长。

Feinman suggests the use of password vaults – secure computer programs that keep track of all of your passwords. All you have to do is remember the password to the vault.

方曼建议，不妨使用密码保险柜──这是记录你所有密码的安全电脑程序，而你只要记住登入密码保险柜的那一个密码就行了。

Hackers also target websites with lax security, looking for lists of user names and passwords. They have no desire to masquerade as you on your favorite scrapbooking website. Instead, they hope you use the same user name and password combination for sites like eBay and PayPal.

黑客也会把攻击目标锁定在安全措施松散的网站，以寻找用户姓名与密码的列表。黑客（译注：窃取你登入剪贴簿网站的用户名称和密码）并不是想在你最爱的剪贴簿网站上假扮成你，而是希望你在eBay和Paypal网站上也使用（译注：和你登入剪贴簿网站所用的）相同用户名称和密码。（译注：paypal是eBay发展出透过网络付费、转账的电子交易平台。）

The trick to keeping yourself secure is all about making your passwords complicated. A combination of letters, numbers and symbols can work wonders against those who would do you harm.

保护自身安全的诀窍无他，就是要让自己的密码很复杂。要对付那些想害你的人，结合了字母、数字和符号的密码有奇效。

But there also is a school of thought among tech folks that writing a password down isn’t the end of the world – as long as you keep it somewhere safe.

然而，另有一派科技人的看法则是，把密码写下来也不是世界末日，只要你把它存放在安全的地方就好了。

Greg Muschong is a computer tech for an organization that requires employees to pick a new password every 90 days.

葛瑞格．穆斯钟是一位电脑技师，他所属的机构要求工必须每九十天更新密码。

“If they aren’t allowed to write it down, they’ll forget it,” Musching said. “That’s just the way it is.”

「如果不能把密码写下来，员工一定会忘记的，」穆斯钟表示，「事实就是如此啊。」

−by Tim Barker

单词发音

More Information

lock up 锁起来；关起来

result from 起因于

by far 显然 to the most extreme or evident degree; without a doubt

vault [vɔlt] n.（银行等的）金库房，贵重物品保管库

secure [sɪˋkjʊr] v. 使安全；掩护；保卫

keep track of 了解...的动态(或线索); 记录 to continue to be informed or know about someone or something

masquerade [͵mæskəˋred] v. 化装；冒充

scrapbooking [ˋskræp͵bʊkɪŋ] n. 剪贴簿

单词发音

Vocabulary Focus

poster child 模范人物，典型代表（亦作 poster boy 或 poster girl，由慈善募捐海报中的儿童之意引申而来）someone who is the perfect example of something

dubious [ˋdjubɪəs] adj. 可疑的; 靠不住的 thought not to be positive; not able to be trusted

a sign of the times (常作贬义)某时期的标志 something that is typical of the way society is now

mind-boggling [ˋmaɪndˋbɑg!ɪŋ] adj. (巨大、复杂、极端得)令人难以想象的 extremely surprising and difficult to understand or imagine

slim [slɪm] adj. 渺茫的; 少的 unlikely

lax [læks] adj. 不严格的；马马虎虎的 lacking care, attention or control; not severe or strong enough

masquerade as (something or someone) 假扮，乔装，伪装 to pretend to be someone or something that you are not

Todd Feinman discusses tips on how to protect your identity