How long ago did you change your password for online banking, email, blog, favorite online shopping sites, or any of your social networking tools? If you can’t remember, change your passwords as soon as you are done reading this!
Why it’s important to change your password
Your password is like a secret knock into a world of your personal security. A unique password makes it more difficult for a hacker to enter your sacred space to steal your information. A single password for all accounts is not good enough. Hackers are smart. They can easily figure out that ONE password and use it to break into all of your other accounts, making you a victim of identity theft. There are many ways how identity theft happens but you can protect yourself by creating strong, unique passwords for all of your accounts.
What makes a strong password?
- There’s a difference between a good password, a strong one, and one that will be hacked. Here’s what you don’t want your login credentials to be:
- A family member’s name
- The last 4 digits of your social security number
- Password. Yes, really. According to PCWorld.com, p-a-s-s-w-o-r-d is the second most popular password in the list. And using “passw0rd” and substituting the zero for the “o” is just as easy to guess. And don’t use pa$$word either. Too easy!
- Your date of birth or the birthday of anyone in your immediate family
- 123456
- Admin
Now that you know what thieves look for, here’s how you thwart them:
- Go beyond the required password length. If the password field says that you need to have 6 characters, make yours 8 or even 10. The more characters, the harder it is to guess. l
- When in doubt of your password, use the retrieve password button on the site you visit to access your account. A unique link will be sent via email for you to access your account and change it.
- Don’t store your many logins and passwords as a Word doc on your computer, in Evernote on your tablet, or somewhere on your phone. If your devices are stolen, think of what a treasure trove of information that device is!
- Make an appointment with yourself to change your passwords each month, or at the very least, every other month. Set a reminder on your calendar if you’re likely to forget.
- Use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. For example create one with your pet’s name (Spot) and your anniversary (October 17). Instead of it reading Spot1017, change it to: $p0tT3nL7 A combination of capital letters combined with symbols, letters, and numbers is much harder to guess!
Do your identity a favor. Change your passwords and then get IDENTITY GUARD’s 3 free ebooks about how to protect yourself from identity theft.
I am a kIDsure Ambassador and received Identity Guard service to review at no charge. I also receive monetary compensation for my involvement in the program however, all opinions are my own and knowledge comes from past experience working for internet security companies.
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Original post by Tech Savvy Mama
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