especially careful about protecting access to your email address, warns Slain. “Email accounts are the keys to the kingdom because you reset other passwords using your email. “The same goes for social network
sites. You just click the ‘Forgot My Password’ link on the login screen of a website, and you get an email allowing you to create a new one. A hacker can do that as easily as you do it. He creates a new password to your account, and boom — he has access to your account, and you don’t anymore. “Then he deletes the confi rmation
email and you don’t even know your identity has been hijacked until it’s too late.” The following are 10 ways to protect yourself.
1 Use secure passwords of eight characters or more. One way to
create secure passwords that are easy to remember is to use short words with spaces in between. For example, “eat cake at 8!” or “car park city?” If the password fi eld doesn’t allow
spaces, use the underscore character (e.g., “car_park_city?”)
2 Combine letters, numbers, and other characters to make
passwords tougher to hack. Make it easy for yourself by using something you can remember, putting a zero in place of the letter O, using a 1 instead of an L, and adding exclamation points or questions marks (examples: “0my1ord!” or “d0g8f00d?”).
3 Don’t use a password that anyone who knows you might be
able to guess. So forget about birthdays, names of spouses or kids, team names, or phone numbers.
4 Single words from the dictionary, however arcane,
simply won’t cut it. Hackers can employ so-called “brute force” attacks that quickly try every word in the dictionary, so even long dictionary words are not safe.
5 Don’t save your password to an unprotected fi le on your
computer.
6 Don’t use the same username/ password combination on
multiple sites or applications. Many applications and sites do not protect usernames and passwords adequately, and thieves will obtain this information, and then try the same username and password combinations on more valuable sites and services like online bank sites and PayPal.
7 Make remembering lots of passwords easier by using well-
known, reliable password software such as SplashID Safe, RoboForm, or 1Password. These relatively inexpensive programs enable you to store and organize passwords and other sensitive information in a secure, encrypted database on your computer or smartphone.
8 Use a secondary “alias” email address for signing up to new
services you are not familiar with.
9 Change your passwords every six months, every 12 months at
the latest.
10 Always be careful with email links sent to you from PayPal, a
bank, or any other kind of fi nancial institution. Hackers are getting extremely good at creating fake email messages and fake websites that look just like the real thing. They are traps designed to trick you into entering your username and password. Don’t do it — no matter how urgent the message may be. If you receive an email from a fi nancial institution asking you to do something and you think it might be a legitimate request, call them and make the change on the phone.
MARCH 2013 | NEWSMAX MAXLIFE 63
JUST SAY NO TO THESE TROUBLEMAKERS
H
ere are the 25 worst passwords — they are the most common,
and therefore the most easily hacked. Users of any of these passwords are the most likely to be identity theft victims.
password 123456 12345678 abc123 qwerty monkey letmein dragon 111111
baseball iloveyou trustno1 1234567
sunshine master 123123 welcome shadow ashley football jesus
michael ninja mustang password1 SOURCE: SplashData
KEYBOARD BUTTON/ISTOCKPHOTO
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