How safe are your passwords? Real life rules for businesses to live by

Changes to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) password guidelines were welcomed as long overdue. Security professionals criticized the old guidelines, which recommended a mix of numbers, letters and special characters that are changed periodically.

When I read the new document, I was surprised that it doesn’t account for very common attacks. In short, NIST guidance leaves people who rely solely upon passwords for authentication, which seems to be a majority of accounts, more vulnerable.