Saturday, October 13, 2012

Beware of Hackers: Top 10 Tips to Make a Strong Password



Recently, LinkedIn announced that 6.5 million of their accounts were accessed by Russian hackers. After that, Last.fm, a well-known online radio site, warned all its users that their accounts might be in jeopardy, too. All in all, approximately 30 million Internet users have been screwed!

The best way to avoid cyber criminals from hacking your account is to create a strong password. That means, you should not settle with using your birthday or your boyfriend’s name as your code. Read these tips so you can come up with a strong and secure password: 

1. Never tell your password to anyone.

2. Never use a short password (use at least 8 characters).

3. Never use similar passwords for different social network sites.

4. Never use names of people (or pets) close to you like your family members.

5. Never use common words like “password,” “123,” your birthday or the name you use to log 
in to the site.

6. Choose complex word-combinations that are unrelated to each other.

7. Make sure to put numbers and other special characters if possible.

8. Change passwords as often as possible or whenever you think your account has been accessed by intruders.

9. Choose a password that you don’t need to write down just to remember it.

10. You can make use of sites like Password Meter to test how strong your password is.

If you want to stay away from hackers and make your online transactions secure, it’s high time to change your “iloveyou” or “123456” password now!

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