Keeping Your Accounts Safe

The password is the cornerstone to the security of any of your online accounts. From your web mail account to your banking account, it is the most important security feature on any of them. In recent weeks we have learned that even some of the biggest online entities can falter in the security of your personal information and that this can cause a ripple effect for those who are not doing what they can to keep their other accounts secure. In most of these attacks, hackers went after customer names, contact information and e-mail addresses, but in one very recent attack they manage to nab the log on information of the target companies users. (Reference this post for more info on these breaches.) This attack opened many doors for these cyber criminals because, many people have chosen to be lax in their password security. Either choosing to use weak passwords or using the same passwords for multiple accounts. This has prompted many sites to request users to change their password. If you've made or are making the mistake of using week passwords or the same password everywhere, you're asking for it. Sooner or later your account or accounts will be compromised, your personal information stolen and then your good name used to attack others. Do you really want that to happen? Be aware, some accounts are not so easy to regain after they have been compromised and depending on the account type you could lose everything.

Below are few true methods for keeping your online accounts safe.

1. When choosing a password always be sure to make it strong. Many sites will suggest a minimum length of 6 to 8 characters, using uppercase and lowercase letters with numbers. Though it may be hard for a human to guess a password of 6 to 8 characters in length, some hackers use programs that can make this task Child's play. For that reason it is suggested that you never make your password that short. Instead you should use a password of 12 to 16 characters in length and never use pet names, dictionary words or common words. Also don't just stick to letters and numbers whenever possible. The use of symbols, letters and numbers will fortify your password in a way in which it will be impossible to guess by a human and take an extremely long time to crack with a computer program. Be aware that there are some sites that do not allow the use of symbols in your password and may restrict the total length of your password. When creating your password always be sure to read the site's suggestions as they will contain the password limitations.

Note:

To test the strength of your passwords you can use a service like the one listed below. It will tell you how week or strong you password is. It is safe to use because the site one, does not store your password and two, does not ask for the associated account information.

The Password Meter - http://www.passwordmeter.com/

2. Never use the same password to multiple accounts. Example: You have a "user@Gmail.com" e-mail address associated with your Facebook account. The password you use to log into Gmail to check your "user@Gmail.com" e-mail, should not be the same as the password you use to login to your Facebook account. You should also be sure to use a different set of credentials for your online banking and shopping information. Many simply suggests not using the same passwords but I suggest keeping different sets of credentials for social networking, banking and online shopping. That way if a hacker does manage to still compromise any of your accounts they will not be able to access other accounts with the same info.

3. Always use the security question feature, when a sites offers it. This adds backup to your password in the event you forget your password or your account has been compromise. Never set the answers to your security question to things which you have posted or talked about online in public. The only person who should know these answers are you and like your password, they should not be easy for others to guess.

4. Get in the habit of changing your passwords on any sensitive accounts every month. Market as a date on your calendar so you won't forget to do it.

5. Do not give out or share your passwords. This means don't give it to anyone. Not your husband, wife, kids, sibling, other websites, the police, NO ONE. Period. Always be sure to check the URL displayed in your browsers address bar before you begin typing in your login information on any website. Don't respond to email request to log into any of your accounts. Get out of the habit of following any links to log in to your accounts as well. Take the little extra time to manually type in the correct web address and check your spelling of it.

6. When using a friends or a public computer, before you enter your password to anything on it, be sure to check that it is fully protected by an anti-virus solution and that the solution is fully working and fully updated. Now many people will say, "I don't have the time to check this, I'm only going to use it for second". A second is all it takes for an information stealing Trojan to grab the user information you've type in on the keyboard of an unprotected computer.

7. Always be sure when using friends or public computers that you log out of any online accounts you may have logged into while at that computer. Also take the time to clear the browsers cache of your online sessions. Don't leave anything of yourself behind.

Note:

It may be hard for some people to create a strong passwords they can remember. Also having many online accounts may cause confusion when trying to remember the specific logon info for each. Not to worry, there are quite a few software programs that are designed with this particular problem in mind. They are called password safes or password managers. Most will give you the option of storing all of your account login information in them and then automatically entering this info when needed. Most password safes employ encryption that will store your information safely. One in particular is named KeyPass. It is an open source freeware, ( Completely Free ), program which is designed to manage your passwords and other log on information. It comes in several versions and even has portable versions to allow you to take this information with you wherever you go. It employs currently unbreakable AES and Twofish encryption to keep the information you store in it safe. It also gives you a password generation tool, which you can configure to create passwords of any length and strength. As well as it has special features that can be used to hide your login information from many keyloggers, which may be on and infect computer. Below you will find information on how to obtain and use it. Also include below is a video by Graham Cluley, the senior technology consultant at Sophos, in which he shows you how you can create your on hard to crack passwords. I suggest you watch it.

KeePass Password Safe ( Where to Obtain It )
http://keepass.info/

KeePass Password Safe ( How To Use It )
http://keepass.info/help/base/index.html

How to choose a strong password - simple tips for better security

If you take the time to follow the above recommendation you will greatly lesson your chances of having your online accounts compromised by way of week passwords.

In the image below you will see some of the most popular bad passwords people a have used to secure their online accounts. Please don't ever use any of them or even anything similar.

source:http://scamsniper.blogspot.com/p/keeping-your-accounts-safe.html