Secure your Internet Passwords

Over the last year there have been several incidents of hackers gaining access to websites like Zappos, Sony's PlayStation Network and the CIA.  In some cases millions of id's, credit card numbers and passwords were potentially compromised. Even with all the news about hackers getting access to these systems, the #1 most commonly used password across the Internet is still “12345678.”

Take some time to follow a few simple steps and help prevent hackers from gaining access to your personal data.

Be Complex 
A combination of upper case, lower case, symbols and numbers.  Most cyber experts suggest a minimum of eight characters passwords, but using fourteen characters or more is something they encourage.  Lean towards random multi-words like bright rose if you must and turn them into something like bR!6hTR0$e.  Better yet, think of even more random sequence of non-sensible characters.

Think Different
Don't use the same password across all the sites you access.  It would be very troubling to have your Facebook account compromised, but foolish to give those same thugs access to you bank, email, and credit cards, too. 

Get Help
Plenty of people still write down their passwords and hide them under a mouse pad, keyboard or worse post them on a monitor. Don't write them on a piece of paper! Use a program to keep track of all you passwords. AgileBits offers an application called 1Password that provides round-trip access to all your password data between your laptops, iPad’s, smartphones and other systems. It is a quick and easy way to securely store all your passwords while at the office, home or on the road.  

Think Frequency
Just like you hear about you about testing your smoke alarms at regular intervals, take the time to schedule and change you passwords.  Most security groups encourage that you change your passwords every 90 days.

Local Lockdown
Require login access on all your computers and mobile devices.  There are plenty of stored passwords that are automatically held in your Internet browsers.  Eliminate those compromises by enabling the auto-locking features that protect those devices after several minutes of inactivity.

While these steps don’t stop hackers from gaining access to companies holding your information, it does help protect a variety of security points that you control.

Ease Technologies is an IT consulting and technology services firm that supports clients and markets seeking flexibility, creative talent and high reliability in a partner. Our expertise and current service offerings include IT Managed Services, Deployment Services, Software Development, Education Consulting, as well as  IT Staffing. We have two decades of experience serving clients across a variety of industries and varying sizes from small businesses to large global organizations.