Hedy Lamarr’s branding was a beautiful successful movie star, however she wanted people to know her for her brains. Today, on Data Privacy Day, we bring a special brainy focus to Hedy Lamarr’s brand. Also known as Data Protection Day, this is an international holiday with the goal of raising awareness and promoting privacy and data protection best practices. The United States, Canada, Israel and 47 European countries observe this holiday.
Hedy Lamarr’s Brand = Actress / Inventor / Mathematician
Hedy Lamarr, working with with composer George Antheil, invented frequency hopping spread spectrum, FHSS, which in 1942 received U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for their “Secret Communications System”. It was intended to protect radio-guided torpedoes from being detected or jammed. How does it work? FHSS is a method of transmitting radio signals, quickly switching between many frequency channels, using a sequence known to both transmitter and receiver. If there is any interference at a specific frequency, will only affect the signal during that short interval. This patent was rediscovered in the 1950’s, expanded upon, and variations on this patent are used today in CDMA phone technology, remote controls, Bluetooth, and Wifi.
Branding and Security
So today is a great day to consider your security in a variety of areas. Does your website have an SSL certificate to provide encryption and ensure secure access for all visitors? Google Chrome browser has been moving to derank websites that fail to provide this protection, so getting one in place would assist you in getting more visibility in search results. Having an SSL in place adds to the trust people will associate with your brand. Review and check your privacy settings on your browsers and all your social media, both personally and professionally.
How safe is your password?
The biggest problems with passwords are reuse among multiple sites and predictability. Please get more creative, people! ‘Password’ is not a effective password! Data Genetics analyzed 3.4 million 4 digit PINs (such as are used for your bank password) that were exposed due to hacking or security breaches. There are 10,000 possible combinations, yet most people default to 1234, 0000, and 1111. Some opt for 2580, right down the middle of the keypad. Number combos starting with 19 or 20 are popular because they are birthdates or other important dates. Using the top 20 combinations, a hacker can break 26.83 percent of passwords! Repeated sets of numbers like 7878 or 2323 are also popular.
Similarly, there are many words that are commonly used for passwords. SplashData, who makes password manager applications, gave a list of top 25 common passwords for 2018. Among the strings of sequential numbers are the words sunshine, qwerty, iloveyou, princess, admin, welcome, football, monkey, charlie, donald, password1, qwerty123. Then there is !@#$%^&* which is the top keys on keyboard + the shift key. We can do better at this just by googling for strong password generators.
Let’s all aspire to being more, let’s use our brains to create a more secure online presence. And when you are ready to establish your brand, connect with us, Hyperspace Internet Technologies, 888 448-2932.