ADINTL: Why IBM Notes is Secure

This post is ripped from the headlines, literally, my Facebook headlines.

Many times I am questioned why IBM Notes requires it's own password. People are quick to point out Outlook does not and they do not like the interruption. (Technology people stop laughing! Talking about end users here) By the way, Outlook does have it, but, well, read this where they state:

This password feature however shouldn’t be regarded as a sturdy protection mechanism though and it was never intended as such either. The passwords are easy to crack via various tools such as Atomic Pst Password Recovery and the encryption of the pst-file isn’t based on the password either.

Yes, well you know Facebook, Twitter, et al have passwords which you can choose to bypass via your browser saving password option. Outlook does it similarly via Windows server and clients, this is called Single Sign On or SSO in my world.

IBM Notes has a similar SSO option. Not going to debate the pros and cons of it. If you know the topic, you get it already. In short, we need more security in some organizations and in others we need the users to just get work done and not have to remember yet another password.

As a computer user you have the option to set your Windows or Linux or Mac screen saver or timeout setting to ask you login after some amount of unused time. Same thing in IBM Notes.

However, if you make your password for IBM Notes different from your primary system login, you have an extra layer of security for your email client. In my case, where I leverage many widgets in my sidebar that connect to some important systems, this is very helpful. I rarely worry about someone logging into my email client.

But, if you choose to leverage SSO or just make all your passwords the same and never set a logooff time, you could end up with, as an example, a Facebook messages like this one day:

And yes the comments are growing and quite amusing as well. What could there be on Facebook that anyone would care enough about to secure it?

Why do I bring this up? Because in the time it takes for you to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water or a coffee or in some places get the document you printed, you could be the victim of an internal or external security breach.

It may be funny and a nice prank on your friends, but in business, some serious problems can be started this way. Hackers know it is easier to get to you from inside your own company than outside of it. The hackers may look like gardeners, fire rescue people....or your spouse.

I am open and trusting in my collaboration at work and at home, but when I am traveling or at a client site ,I always manually turn on the screen lock whenever I leave my desk.

If you do not make use of the security your systems have already, you have no one else to blame when these things happen to you. IBM Notes has been and always will be a very secure product and if that is important to you or your company, I can help you leverage it.

I can also get you over your fear of people writing on Facebook as you.

ADINTL= A Day In The Life