The need for strong passwords
With Internet fraud on the increase it is becoming increasingly important to protect yourself and your personal details. One slip up can cost you dearly. The most important thing you should do is protect your passwords.
Speak to anyone involved in the Internet security industry and they will tell you it is very important to have different passwords for every major account you log into. Obvious, right? Well yes, it is, and companies try to “help” by forcing you to pick a strong password, or even providing one for you. That’s great, right?
Well no, not really. Consider it it this way. You have a main email account which you access all the time, from different locations. It stands to reason that this account is the one you log into more than most of your accounts. The more you use it the more vulnerable it is.
You may think that last statement is not accurate, that your password is strong and nobody can know it. You might be right, but the first time you need to use a public computer to access your email, can you be sure there isn’t a keylogger on the computer you are using? Can you be sure their systems are secure and that the kid in the corner with his Macbook isn’t waiting to steal your password?
This all sounds a little far fetched, and indeed it is rare, but it does happen. Every day there are many people whose email accounts get compromised. It is by far the most targetted type of user account.
The main reason email accounts are hacked is to use these accounts for spam, but the other reason they are hacked is they contain all sorts of account data.
The thing is, this is often not your fault. You sign up for a service, enter your secure password and wait for your confirmation email. You check your email only to find they have sent it to you in plain text!
If someone hacks email account can now access to your email as well as the details of other accounts you may have signed up for. If you happen to use the same password for other accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Bank!) then they may try to gain access to those too.
This is a big problem, and as individuals we can try to stem it by deleting these emails (from the trash too!), but the real issue is companies sending them out in the first place.
As a final word of advice, try to keep to these following rules:
- Keep your email password as secure as possible (letters + numbers etc)
- Use different passwords for all accounts (not even similar)
- Change your main email password every now and then
- Delete emails with passwords in them (and empty the trash)
- Never trust a public computer. If you must use one, change your password asap
- Never use any common passwords
Click the link if you wish to return to the Kaspersky Internet Security page.
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