People preach password protection by citing online resources to either signup or download. Personally, I would stay away from them, unless you can really trust them. A lot of these programs and places require that you put in answers to personal security questions, your birthday, and more. However, as we have seen from time to time, there has been hackings of the best internet companies out there, including Twitter, Experion, and more.
You should not rely on these services to do this for you, even if it is a matter of convenience, UNLESS it’s that necessary. And if you do, you need to make sure you guard how that service is accessed.
Yes, sites like LastPass.com are fantastic ideas, but are you willing to still risk your information being blown to bits. Even people are being hacked by their own family and friends. Now, this post is not to make you leery of your own family and friends, but to share with you that it is a possibility as it has happened. I want you to think about what you do online, and what information you enter through forms. I want you to be very aware of your safety online.
Some people literally live online and they have signed up to dozens of different sites: social networking, gaming, shopping, banking, etc. I hear a lot of people every day talking about losing passwords or getting hacked, and I guess today I finally decided that it was time to address the matter. Here are some ways to help:
1. Keep a ‘black’ book, some kind of offline written documentations of the sites you have joined. Record username, password, and security questions.
2. Passwords – It may be frustrating, but if you have to make up a strong password. Use a combination of lowercase letters, uppercase letters, and numbers. For those with access to the root of their servers whether it is theirs or purchased through a webhost, you can also include symbols. (cPanel users have this ability.) Make those passwords no less than 8 characters.
3. Security Questions – Even if it says ‘Who is your favorite uncle?’, do not put your uncle’s name. Try a separate type of password other than your chosen password for your account. Make it difficult for even those who may know some things about you.
4. Try to avoid clicking the box that says ‘remember my password.’ Log in each time and remember to clear your cache if you have not set your computer to automatically clear cache (computer cookies – remembers information you send.)
5. Always make sure the service you enter is not collecting passwords. If you are not sure – avoid.
6. Try not to document your passwords to an Excel file unless you password protect that file.
7. Try not to always use the same password for everything.
8. Utilize any 2-factor authentication methods. Two-factor authentication is where you log in, and the site either sends your phone a code to enter into the site, in order to verify that you are really you. In Facebook, if you are accessing the social network on a different device, other than your phone, you will need to go to your phone, and under settings, find a code generator. This is different from sending a text, but is nice, as someone else has to have your phone in order to get into your account.
These are just a few suggestions. What other suggestions do you have?
Stay away from porn sites. Unless you’re on your grandmother’s computer.
“Unless you’re on your grandmother’s computer.’
lol. I am not sure how she would like that. My grandmother is pretty computer savvy considering she worked for the government using computers for 30 plus years.
hmmm…. never share passwords and or save passwords on the computer IF you share it with someone. Thankfully I have my own computer but i do own a notebook with all my passwords as you never know..
definitely. Thank you. I was going to mention that, but what fun would that be if I did not leave anything up for conversation. 😉
My big thing is changing passwords every 3 months. It’s a pain to do because I have accounts at a LOT of different sites, but it’s good to do in conjunction with not using the same password for everything (I have different passwords for different “types” of accounts, if that makes sense)!
Yes, I know at the Walgreens Distributiion I use to work at, they use to have people change their passwords to something new every 90 days. Also, the password they chose chould not be the same as the previous.
Sage advice, but it can be difficult to keep track of all those different security passwords. I do admit myself that i often use the same set of passwords randomly for many accounts and document the odd one for important accounts like business and personal banking for example. Can't say i have been cracked yet and luckily none of my family would be interested in using them either.