SplashData.com recently published the following information regarding the most popular 2012 passwords on the web. The ranking was based on password information from compromised accounts posted by hackers online. The article was also featured on blogs.avg.com.

This year, the list is back! So it's time to see how, if at all, users have learned their lessons about what makes a strong password.

Here's the full list and how it compares to last year's:

#	Password	Change from 2011
1.	password	Unchanged
2.	123456	Unchanged
3.	12345678	Unchanged
4.	abc123	Up 1
5.	qwerty	Down 1
6.	monkey	Unchanged
7.	letmein	Up 1
8.	dragon	Up 2
9.	111111	Up 3
10.	baseball	Up 1
11.	iloveyou	Up 2
12.	trustno1	Down 3
13.	1234567	Down 6
14.	sunshine	Up 1
15.	master	Down 1
16.	123123	Up 4
17.	welcome	New
18.	shadow	Up 1
19.	ashley	Down 3
20.	football	Up 5
21.	jesus	New
22.	michael	Up 2
23.	ninja	New
24.	mustang	New
25.	password1	New

As you can see, people haven’t changed their password habits a whole lot in a year.

If your password is included on that list, or is a close variation of these passwords, it's really important to take action now!

Fixing your password problem can be very simple;

Long is strong: The longer the password, the more difficult it will be for someone to try and crack it using brute force. So, instead of a single word, with a jumble of symbols, numbers and characters, try a string of words. Use a line of your favorite poem, song or just something memorable. Feel free to add your lucky number at the end if you like.

Something like: "withnodirectionhome1085".

A famous Dylan lyric like this will always be easy to remember, and say you were born in October 1985. This means that you've suddenly got a 23 character password, which is much harder to crack than something much harder to remember such as "Phu!R7tRjX".

Variety is the spice of life: The trouble with smaller, complex passwords is that they can be a real hassle to remember, often forcing you to use the same password for multiple accounts which is never a good idea. So another benefit of having long, easy to remember passwords is that you keep many passwords.

 

Source: Internet Crime Complaint Center's 01/07/2013 Scam Alerts. 

 

Note: third party links are provided for your convenience only. Bank of Ann Arbor does not control their content.

Bank of Ann Arbor announced on January 2, 2013 that it has acquired Ervin Leasing Company, a privately held national equipment leasing and finance company founded in 1978 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Ervin Leasing, a subsidiary of parent company Ervin Industries, has been a highly successful and growth oriented leasing company since its founding in 1978. After successfully navigating the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009, the company began to ramp up sales in 2010. However, Ervin Leasing’s funding sources, previously providing lines of credit in the range of $100 million, remained on the sidelines, leading to Ervin Industries’ decision to seek out a new owner who could provide funding for growth. After seeking proposals from banks and private equity firms, Bank of Ann Arbor was chosen as the successor to Ervin Industries as the new owner of Ervin Leasing.

“We are super excited about this opportunity to join forces with Ervin Leasing and further diversify our product offerings,” said Timothy G. Marshall, Bank of Ann Arbor’s President & CEO. “Bank of Ann Arbor has a substantial level of liquidity to fund the anticipated growth of the newly acquired leasing company. Having done business with Ervin Leasing for over ten years, we know the company very well and admire the strong and experienced management team and its seasoned employees who will all join our Bank of Ann Arbor team.”

“We chose Bank of Ann Arbor as the new owner of Ervin Leasing based on our strong desire to affiliate with a company who would hire all of our local staff, has a similar culture that is growth oriented and a great place to work, and has an impeccable reputation,” said Bruce Gaffney, President and CEO of Ervin Leasing   “We also have maintained a very strong credit culture over the history of the company which is similar to the credit culture at Bank of Ann Arbor. I am confident that our companies will be a great fit for years to come.”

Ervin Leasing will remain at its current office location at 3893 Research Park Dr., Ann Arbor, Michigan. Customers who have questions about today’s transaction may call Ervin Leasing at 734-332-5400.

For more information contact:

Timothy Marshall, Bank of Ann Arbor (734)662-1600

Bruce Gaffney, Ervin Leasing (734)332-5400

About Bank of Ann Arbor

Bank of Ann Arbor is a locally owned and operated bank with total assets and assets under management of over $1.5 billion, serving people and businesses in the Ann Arbor area with offices at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Ann Arbor, in the Traver Village Shopping Center, at the corner of Stadium and Liberty streets, on West Ellsworth Road in Pittsfield Township, on West Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti and in Plymouth on Ann Arbor Road. Its newest office will open on Michigan Avenue in downtown Saline in early 2013.  The web site is www.boaa.com. Visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Ervin Leasing

Ervin Leasing Company, founded in 1978, is a well-established small ticket, $2,000 - $150,000, equipment leasing and finance company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The company has a national presence in the small ticket vendor space servicing the general equipment categories with emphasis on strong service and self-underwriting solutions.  For more information please visit www.ervinleasing.com

About Ervin Industries

Ervin Industries, founded in 1920, is a pioneer in the technical development of cast steel abrasives.  Ervin’s products and technologies represent the world standard for quality innovation and commitment to the success of customers.  Ervin Industries is the largest manufacturer of steel abrasives in North America and the leading exporter from North America.  Ervin’s AMASTEEL abrasives are used in the production of a wide array of products with the primary applications being blast cleaning, peening, cutting, and etching.  For more information please visit www.ervinindustries.com.

In a story by Jenn McKee on AnnArbor.com and in the Thursday print edition, Bank of Ann Arbor's Sonic Lunch coordinator, Matthew Altruda is profiled as One to Watch in 2013. Congratulations, Matthew!

Matthew Altruda doesn't play music, but he makes music happen.

Note: links to third party sites are provided for your convenience only. Bank of Ann Arbor does not control their content.

Kimberly Lankford of Kiplinger's Personal Finance has put together a very informative article, Protecting Yourself from New Year's Scams, warning of common scams that appear around the beginning of the new year.  

(Note: links to third party sites are provided for your convenience. Bank of Ann Arbor does not control their content.)

All Bank of Ann Arbor offices will be open until 5:00pm on Monday, December 31 (except our Plymouth lobby, which will close at 4:30pm).  Offices that have regular Saturday hours will also be open on Saturday, December 29, 9:00am to Noon.  All Bank of Ann Arbor offices will be closed on Tuesday, January 1.

Our website will experience a brief period of outage beginning at midnight December 24 through 2am December 25 as our server undergoes regularly scheduled maintenance that will help us continue to provide you with the best service possible.

During this time, you will not be able to access www.boaa.com or www.bankofannarbor.com, but you can access your accounts directly through the links below.  Please copy and paste them somewhere convenient so that you can still access your account information during this short down time:

Personal Banking:

https://web6.secureinternetbank.com/pbi_pbi1961/pbi1961.ashx?Rt=072413735&LogOnBy=connect3&PRMACCESS=Account

Business Banking:

https://web6.secureinternetbank.com/ebc_ebc1961/ebc1961.ashx?wci=process&wce=request&rid=3000&rtn=072413735&rt=072413735&mfa=2

Please contact us at 734-662-1600 if you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you for your patience.

Here are the most recent spear-phishing attacks that are currently making the rounds nationwide, and which pose a significant threat to your data- and financial security. Note that some of these attacks are used for years, because they continue to work on uninformed people.

Number 5
The Better Business Bureau Complaint – In this scam, executives will receive an official-looking email that is spoofed to make it appear as if it comes from the Better Business Bureau. The message either details a complaint that a customer has supposedly filed, or claims that the company has been accused of engaging in identity theft. A complaint ID number is provided, and the recipient is asked to click on a link if they wish to contest or respond to the claim. Once the link is clicked, malware is downloaded to the system.

Number 4
The Smartphone 'Security App' – This is a 2-step attack. With minimal research cybercriminals can find the name and email addresses of a company’s CFO and social engineer them to click a link. That link infects the PC of the CFO with a keylogger. This way the hacker obtains bank account data and passwords. In case the bank uses two-factor authentication, the attacker spoofs an email from the bank asking the CFO to install a smartphone security app, which is actually malware giving them access to the phone. And with that, the cybercriminals have full access to the CFO’s bank account login credentials and at the same time control any two-factor text messages sent to or from the CFO authorizing money transfers.

Number 3
The Watering Hole Attack – Hackers do their research on a targeted executive, and find out which websites the executive frequents, sometimes to discuss industry related topics with their peers, or perhaps a hobby site the hackers learned about through the exec's social media postings. Next, the bad guys compromise that website, and inject a zero-day exploit onto public pages of the website that they hope will be visited by their targeted executive. Once the exec does, their PC is infected with a keylogger and the network penetrated.

Number 2
Free Dinner in Return for Feedback – By reviewing an executive’s social media profiles, cybercriminals are able to determine what charities that individual supports or does business with, as well as his or her favorite local restaurants. The scammer will then spoof an email from a representative of that charity, asking the exec to download a Word Doc that supposedly contains details on an upcoming campaign or event, and promises free dinner at their favorite restaurant as an incentive for providing feedback. When the Word doc is downloaded the user's password is stolen – and gives hackers direct access to the network. Here is a short video of Kevin Mitnick showing how this type of exploit works. Take these two minutes, it's worth seeing: http://www.knowbe4.com/video-mitnick/

Number 1
'We're Being Sued' – In this scenario, attackers dig up the email addresses of a company’s executives and also their legal counsel (in-house or external). They will then spoof an email from the legal counsel to the executive team, and attach a PDF that claims to contain information about new or pending litigation. When the recipients download and open the attachment, their system becomes infected and the entire network is compromised.

While savvy Internet users realize they should not click links or download attachments from unknown senders, spoofed emails and official-looking websites trick recipients into letting their guard down. When executives receive a time-sensitive email that appears to be sent by the Better Business Bureau, a fellow exec, their legal counsel or an organization they support, most won’t think twice before clicking because they trust the person they believe is the sender. That’s what cybercriminals are counting on, and why they’re willing to invest the time to create realistic-looking messages from familiar sources. They’ve discovered just how effective these types of spear-phishing scams can be.

Note: links to third party sites are provided for your convenience only. Bank of Ann Arbor does not control or endorse their content.

In between the family meals with tables full of turkey and trimmings, the related holiday festivities and watching those favorite movies we all know and love, millions of people are planning on hitting the malls, outlet stores and online retailers for a little (or a lot!) of holiday shopping in the upcoming weeks.

As part of its Go Local initiative to dine local, shop local and bank local, the Independent Community Bankers of America, representing thousands of local community banks across the nation, is launching a “Go Local for the Holidays” campaign to encourage consumers to buy at least 30 percent of their holiday purchases at locally owned businesses.

According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, the biggest portion of 2012 holiday shoppers’ budget will go toward gifts for family members – and on average, about $422 will be spent on them!

Just think about how much good you’ll be doing if you buy even just a few of those gifts on your list from a small business. The money you spend will go towards helping local entrepreneurs to succeed, create jobs and keep money flowing within your community — similar to the way community banks serve their small business customers every day by lending to them and helping them navigate their local market. One of the important reasons they are able to do this is because community banks are small businesses too! They understand the challenges that local small businesses face and they value their customer relationship, not only throughout the holiday season but the entire year. In fact, community banks under $10 billion in assets provide nearly 60 percent of small business loans between $100,000 and $1 million!

It’s all part of a very symbiotic relationship between small businesses and their local community banks. So let’s get into the holiday spirit and add consumers to that list! I have no doubt it will make Santa and a few small business owners and their families very happy this holiday season — not to mention a happier community with more jobs and more dollars being circulated where they belong — locally!

– Terry Jorde, senior executive vice president/chief of staff at ICBA
@terryjorde

Note: links to third party sites are provided for your convenience only. Bank of Ann Arbor does not control or endorse their content.

All Bank of Ann Arbor offices are closed on Monday, November 12, 2012 in observance of Veteran's Day. We'll see you tomorrow, Tuesday, for regular business hours. Meanwhile, thank a veteran today!

On Friday, November 2, 2012 Bank of Ann Arbor was recognized as the Company of the Year by AnnArbor.com at its annual “Deals of the Year” event.

"It is a terrific recognition of all of the amazing work we do at the bank and in the community," said Tim Marshall, President and CEO of Bank of Ann Arbor. "The award was based on the exceptional growth Bank of Ann Arbor hasexperienced over the past three years, our strong commitment to the community in support of the arts, culture, and health and human services, and our highly distinctive and nationally recognized “non-local bankers think” campaign." 

Links to third party sites are provided for your convenience. Bank of Ann Arbor does not endorse or control their content.