The SoNeDevVerse

The SoNeDevVerse is where technology meets trust. Dive into stories, insights, and strategies from the front lines of IT, cybersecurity, and digital transformation—powered by SoNeDev.

[sonedev]

Is a password between 10-13 characters sufficient for 2026?

We hate to break it to you, but a 10–13‑character password is better than the old minimums, but by 2026 standards it's only borderline sufficient—not ideal—especially against modern offline cracking. NIST's 2026 guidance strongly favors longer passphrases (15+ characters) because length, not complexity, is now the dominant factor in resisting attacks.

What NIST's 2026 Guidelines Actually Say

NIST's updated password recommendations emphasize:

Minimum allowed length: 8 characters

Recommended length: 15+ characters, especially for sensitive or privileged accounts

No required complexity rules (uppercase, symbols, etc.)

Strong preference for long passphrases

Mandatory screening against known breached passwords

These updates reflect the reality that attackers now use extremely fast GPU‑based cracking rigs, making short passwords—no matter how "complex"—far easier to brute‑force.

Why 10–13 Characters Is Only "Okay"

Offline cracking is the real threat.

If an attacker obtains a hashed password database, they can attempt billions of guesses per second. So your 10–13‑character password sits in the "not terrible, but not strong" zone.

The Real 2026 Best Practice

NIST and security researchers now recommend:

✔ Use a passphrase of 15–20+ characters

Example: correct-horse-battery-staple or river-coffee-lantern-sky

These are:

Much harder to brute‑force

Easier to remember

Fully compliant with NIST’s 2026 guidance

✔ Add MFA (especially phishing‑resistant MFA)

NIST explicitly encourages passwordless or MFA‑based authentication.

So…Is 10–13 Characters "Sufficient"?

Here's the honest breakdown:

For low‑risk accounts: Probably acceptable, but not ideal.

For important accounts (email, banking, cloud storage): Not sufficient by 2026 standards.

For admin/privileged accounts: Insufficient—NIST recommends 15+ characters.

Our Recommendation for You

If you want to be future‑proof and aligned with 2026 best practices:

Switch to a 15–20+ character passphrase

Use a password manager

Enable MFA everywhere possible

This gives you security that scales with modern attack capabilities. We also have not one, not two, but THREE FREE online password tools that meet NIST guidelines that you are can use anytime!

[sonedev]

The Hidden Credit Bureaus You Should Probably Freeze Too

Most people think protecting their identity means freezing their credit with the "big three" — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. But here's the twist: they're not the only ones holding your data. Several lesser‑known agencies maintain files on you, and identity thieves know exactly how to exploit them.

If you want maximum protection, you need to lock down more than just the usual suspects.

Why Secondary Bureaus Matter

When criminals can't get past your main credit freeze, they pivot. They try opening:

Phone lines

Utility accounts

Bank accounts

Payday loans

And those checks don't always go through the big three. They go through the secondary bureaus.

Freezing these agencies closes the back doors thieves love.

The Four Secondary Bureaus Worth Freezing

1. Innovis

Often called the "fourth credit bureau," Innovis maintains a credit file similar to the big three. Some banks and telecom companies use it, which means thieves can too. A freeze here blocks a surprising number of fraud attempts.

2. NCTUE

The National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange tracks:

Phone accounts

Internet accounts

Utility accounts

If you've ever heard of someone having a mystery phone line opened in their name, this is where the check happened. Freezing NCTUE shuts that down.

3. ChexSystems

Banks use ChexSystems to decide whether to let you open a checking account. Thieves love exploiting this because a fraudulent bank account can be used to:

Launder money

Receive stolen funds

Commit check fraud

A freeze here stops that entire category of identity theft.

4. LexisNexis (with caveats)

LexisNexis is huge — it aggregates:

Public records

Insurance claims

Background check data

Freezing it can block certain fraud attempts, but it may also interfere with:

Insurance quotes

Employment background checks

Identity verification processes

So this one is powerful, but you should freeze it intentionally, not blindly.

The Bottom Line

If you want serious identity‑theft protection, freezing the big three is only step one. Freezing Innovis, NCTUE, ChexSystems, and (optionally) LexisNexis closes the loopholes criminals use when the main doors are locked.

It's free. It's legal. And it dramatically reduces your attack surface.

[sonedev]

How Public Figures Actually Protect Their Identities

Public figures face unusually high risks of impersonation and identity theft, especially with AI‑driven deepfakes and large digital footprints. They avoid identity theft not by "being smart," but by using layered, proactive security systems that ordinary people rarely need. Below is a clear breakdown of how they actually protect themselves, based on current best practices and documented cases.

Even so, the same principles that protect high‑profile individuals can be adapted for ordinary people without requiring a celebrity‑level budget. This guide also breaks down practical, low‑cost steps anyone can take to reduce their exposure to impersonation, tighten control over their digital footprint, and build a realistic personal security plan. You don't need a private security team — just the right habits, tools, and a clear understanding of where your real risks are.

Why Public Figures Are High‑Value Targets

Massive digital footprints make it easy for attackers to scrape personal details.

AI tools can clone voices, faces, and writing styles from a handful of images or clips.

Scammers exploit fanbases with impersonation, fake endorsements, and phishing.

How Public Figures Actually Protect Their Identities

Minimizing Personal Data Exposure

Remove home addresses from real‑estate sites and people‑search engines.

Use P.O. boxes or virtual business addresses for mail.

Request redaction of voter registration info where possible.

Hardening Communication Channels

Use encrypted messaging (Signal, ProtonMail).

Establish passphrase protocols with assistants to prevent social‑engineering attacks.

Avoid sharing schedules or travel plans in shared channels.

Creating "Decoy Layers" of Identity

Use masked emails and alias phone numbers for bookings, registrations, and travel.

Keep their real name off anything that doesn’t legally require it.

Continuous Monitoring and Rapid Response

Real‑time monitoring for deepfake videos, fake accounts, leaked data, dark-web chatter

Use of executive privacy services that scan for exposures and handle takedowns.

Controlling AI-Generated Likeness

Push for consent‑based frameworks and watermarking of synthetic media.

Use licensing agreements to control how their voice, image, or likeness can be used.

Legal Protections

Invoke right of publicity laws to stop unauthorized commercial use of their identity.

Pursue claims for invasion of privacy or misappropriation of likeness.

Why These Measures Matter

Public figures aren't just protecting their bank accounts—they're protecting:

Their reputation (deepfakes spread faster than corrections).

Their safety (doxing and stalking risks).

Their income (fake endorsements and AI‑generated performances).

How to Protect Yourself

You don't need celebrity‑level systems, but you can borrow their best practices:

Use strong, unique passwords + a password manager.

Enable multi‑factor authentication everywhere.

Limit what you post publicly (especially birthdays, addresses, routines).

Monitor your credit and freeze it if you're not applying for loans.

Be skeptical of unsolicited calls/emails asking for verification.

[sonedev]

How We Built a Blog Without Touching WordPress or Spending a Dollar

A playful little story about choosing simplicity over suffering.

Most companies approach blogging the same way they approach assembling IKEA furniture: with optimism, a hex key, and the quiet dread that something is about to go wrong.

We decided to skip all that.

Instead of wrestling with plugins, updates, themes, and the eternal "why did the editor break this time," we took a different path — one that didn’t require a CMS degree, a dev team on standby, or a budget line item.

We built our blog using… Tumblr.

Yes. That Tumblr.

And it's one of the smartest decisions we’ve made.

Why Tumblr? Because it just works.

Tumblr has been quietly doing something most platforms forgot how to do: making publishing effortless.

No onboarding manuals. No plugin roulette. No "please update your PHP version." Just a clean editor, drag‑and‑drop media, tags, drafts, queues, and a publishing flow that anyone on our team can use without training.

And here's the part that surprised even us:

Tumblr still has an organic audience.

People actually discover posts there. They reblog. They follow. They share. It's a social network and a blog engine rolled into one — something most modern platforms can’t claim.

We didn't have to buy a tool, subscribe to a SaaS, or build a custom CMS. We just tapped into something that already exists and does its job beautifully.

The magic trick: making Tumblr feel native on our site

Now, we're not going to spill our entire recipe — that's our secret sauce — but here's the philosophy behind what we built:

Tumblr handles the writing, posting, tagging, and media

Our website handles the design, layout, and experience

The two talk to each other through a lightweight integration layer we built internally

The result looks and feels like a fully custom blog

And our team never has to touch WordPress, a markdown generator, or a CMS dashboard again

It's the best of both worlds: Tumblr's simplicity + our site's branding.

A workflow anyone can use

The real win here isn't the tech — it's the empowerment.

Anyone on our team can:

log into Tumblr

write a post

add images

tag it

hit publish

And it appears on our site automatically, beautifully formatted, with zero friction.

No dev bottlenecks. No "can someone update the blog for me." No "I don't know how to use the CMS."

Just writing.

Why we're sharing this

We're not giving away our internal code or integration logic — that's ours to keep — but we are sharing the mindset:

You don't need a heavyweight CMS to publish great content. You just need a tool your team will actually use.

Tumblr is free. It's fast. It's flexible. And it plays surprisingly well with modern websites if you know how to approach it.

If you've been drowning in CMS complexity or paying for tools your team secretly hates, consider giving Tumblr a second look. It might just be the simplest solution hiding in plain sight.

A gentle nudge (with a grin)

If all of this has you thinking, "Hmm… maybe Tumblr deserves a second chance," we wholeheartedly agree. It's free, it's flexible, it's surprisingly powerful, and it plays nicely with modern websites in ways most people don’t expect.

But if you get halfway through the setup and suddenly remember you have a meeting, or lunch, or a deep personal dislike of touching code — don't worry. We're more than happy to help you integrate Tumblr into your site.

For a fee, of course. Innovation is free. Our time… not so much.

[sonedev]

Why Hiding File Extensions in URLs Isn't Security

A Straight‑Shooter's Take from SoNeDev

Introduction

You've probably heard it:

"Hide your file extensions in URLs — it's a security best practice!"

Let's pause. That sounds impressive, but it's not true. At SoNeDev, we implemented extensionless URLs on our site because it looks cleaner and avoids nitpicking from outsiders. But let's be clear: this is branding, not security.

The Everyday Analogy

Think of a website like a house.

The file extension (.php, .asp, .cfm) is like the paint color on your front door.

Real security is the lock, alarm system, and guard dog.

Changing the paint color doesn't stop burglars. It just makes the house look different.

Why Users Don't Care

Most people don't even read URLs. They click links.

/services.php vs /services is like the difference between "123 Main Street" and "Main Street."

Both get you to the same place. Nobody's pulling out a magnifying glass to study the street sign.

Why Search Engines Don't Care

Google has been crawling .php, .asp, .cfm, .cgi, etc. since the 1990s.

Search engines care about whether your page answers the question, loads fast, and is relevant.

They don't care if your URL ends with four extra letters.

Why Hackers Don't Care

Hackers attack vulnerabilities, not file extensions.

No hacker ever said: "Oh dang, that's JSP code. I don't know JSP, so I'll leave this site alone."

In fact, we're sure there's a black hat somewhere in the dark web laughing at the idea that hiding the file extension makes a site secure.

The Legit Reason: Branding

There is a valid reason for extensionless URLs: branding.

Clean, consistent URLs can make a site look polished.

Enterprises sometimes adopt URL governance policies for marketing consistency.

But branding and security are two completely different things. Branding is about presentation. Security is about protection. Don't confuse the two.

What Real Security Looks Like

At SoNeDev, we focus on what actually protects clients:

Patching servers and frameworks.

Validating inputs to stop SQL injection and XSS.

Strong authentication and session security.

Hardening servers and configs.

Monitoring for anomalies.

These are the locks, alarms, and guard dogs. Not hiding .php or .aspx.

Conclusion

Extensionless URLs are fine for presentation. They make your site look neat. But let's stop pretending they're security.

At SoNeDev, we don't follow the herd. We don't waste time on myths. We invest in the practices that truly protect clients. That's how we differentiate ourselves — by being practical, honest, and focused on what matters.

[sonedev]

The Call That Shook Me: Why I'll Never Answer Unknown Numbers Again

The Story

It started like any ordinary day. I was waiting for an important call, so when my phone lit up with an unfamiliar number, I broke my own rule: never answer unknown callers.

I picked up. "Is this [name]?" the voice asked. Without thinking, I replied, "Yes, speaking."

And then—silence. The caller hung up.

At first, I brushed it off. But the more I thought about it, the more unsettled I became. Why would someone go through the trouble of calling, asking my name, and then disappearing? That's when the fear crept in: had I just handed over my voice for something nefarious?

What's Really Going On

This isn't paranoia—it's a known scam tactic. Fraudsters use calls like these for two main reasons:

Voice recording scams: They try to capture you saying "yes" so they can splice it into fake authorizations for charges or accounts.

Number verification: Sometimes, it's just about confirming your number is active. Once they know you'll answer, your number can be sold to other scammers.

The abrupt hang-up isn't random—it's part of the playbook. It leaves you unsettled, primed for future manipulation.

Why You're Not Alone

I'm not the only one who's fallen for this. Millions of people receive similar calls every year. In fact, consumer reports show billions lost annually to phone scams. The script is often the same:

"Can you hear me?"

"Is this [name]?"

"Do you own [product/service]?"

Each is designed to elicit a quick "yes."

Lessons Learned

Here's what I wish I had done—and what I'll do from now on:

Stick to the rule: Don't answer unknown numbers unless absolutely necessary.

Avoid saying "yes": If you must answer, respond with "Who's calling?" or remain silent.

Use a secondary number: Services like Google Voice are perfect for situations where you need to give out contact info.

Block and report: After suspicious calls, block the number and report it to your carrier.

Stay calm: A single "yes" isn't enough for scammers to wreak havoc, but vigilance matters.

Final Thought

That one word—"yes"—reminded me how easy it is to let our guard down. Scammers thrive on moments of distraction, curiosity, or urgency. By sharing my story, I hope others will think twice before answering that unknown call.

Protect your identity. Protect your peace of mind. And remember: sometimes the safest answer is no answer at all.

Bonus

Guru99 has an article featuring apps that can scramble or disguise your voice during phone calls, often marketed as "voice changer" apps. They let you alter pitch, tone, or add effects in real time, so the person on the other end hears a modified version of your voice

MagicMic (iMyFone)

Real-time voice changer with multiple effects (robot, cartoon, deep voice).

Works during live calls and recordings.

Call Voice Changer – IntCall

Lets you change your voice while making calls.

Offers pitch shifting, background sounds, and disguises.

Funcalls

Simple app for prank calls with voice effects.

Includes animal sounds, funny distortions, and background noises.

Adobe Audition (professional software)

More advanced, often used for editing and disguising audio.

Can be paired with VoIP or call-recording setups for privacy.

FliFlik Voice Changer

Offers real-time scrambling and noise removal.

Designed for both fun and privacy protection.

Source: https://www.guru99.com/best-voice-changer-apps-android-ios.html

If your goal is serious identity protection, scrambling your voice is more of a novelty than a foolproof defense. But if you want an extra layer of disguise—or just peace of mind—these apps can help.

Voice scrambling doesn't guarantee protection against scams—scammers may still record and manipulate audio. The most effective safeguard is not answering unknown numbers or using a secondary number (like Google Voice).

[sonedev]

Office 365 Hijacked by Another Login?

Here's How to Reclaim Your Account

If you've ever tried to log into your Office 365 account only to find yourself mysteriously redirected to another organization's portal—you're not alone. This frustrating experience often happens when multiple Microsoft accounts are cached in your browser, causing login confusion. Whether you're a student trying to access your university portal or a professional juggling multiple tenants, this guide will help you reclaim control of your login experience.

Solution 1: Force Logout and Clear Cache Overview: If you're being redirected to another organization's portal, it's likely due to cached login tokens. Steps: Go to https://office.com and sign out, or Visit https://login.microsoftonline.com/logout.srf to force logout across all Microsoft sessions, or If you're accidentally signed into the wrong account, choose "Sign in with a different account." See Figure 1 below. Clear your browser's cookies and cache, or Open a new incognito/private window and log in via your intended portal

Figure 1 - Sign in with a different account

Solution 2: Use Separate Browser Profiles Overview: Creating browser profiles isolates sessions, preventing cross-account interference. Steps: In Chrome or Edge, click your profile icon > Add Profile Name it something like "Student Account" and optionally sign in with your school email Use this profile exclusively for school-related work Create another profile for other organizations or personal use

Getting hijacked by the wrong Office 365 login can be a productivity killer—but it's totally fixable. Whether you clear your session and start fresh or create separate browser profiles to keep accounts cleanly divided, these simple steps can save you time and sanity. Next time your login goes rogue, you'll know exactly how to bring it back home.

[sonedev]

Welcome to SoNeDev

We're not just tech support — we're your strategic IT partner.

Since 2004, we've helped businesses:

Secure their networks 🔐

Streamline operations ⚙️

Build custom software that actually works 💻

Whether you're an SMB or scaling enterprise, we've got your back — from helpdesk to high-level consulting.

Follow us for tech tips, behind-the-scenes peeks, and the occasional meme (because IT doesn't have to be boring).