I remember a time when identity theft was a rare occurrence, something that happened only to the very few (and extremely unlucky) people. Now, almost anyone you talk to has experienced some sort of ID theft, usually stemming from hacked passwords or credit card usage, both online and offline. ID theft is on the rise, and the offenders are getting better at it.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news recently, you probably have seen stories about massive hacks that compromised credit card information for millions of people. In the past two months alone, prominent retailers Target and Neiman Marcus had huge amounts of credit card information stolen. Target reported that over 70 million credit cards have been compromised due to the insertion of a malware program delivered via credit card terminals that had insecure passwords. Beginning in the end of November and running well into the holiday shopping season, this is one of the largest data breaches on record. More recently, Neiman Marcus reported that many of their retail customers may have had information compromised around the same window of time, and through the same methods.
With these large scale security failures affecting so many people, you may be wondering what you can do to protect yourself from ID theft. While it may be difficult to protect your credit card from malware at a retail store, there are several easy ways to help prevent your personal identity from being stolen. One of the most effective and necessary measures for safeguarding your information is to secure and manage your passwords – most importantly, your email password.
Why Email Passwords Are So Important
Think about all of the things that you do online that are tied to your email account. Many people have social media, online banking and other billing accounts linked to their email address. If your email information gets compromised, you run the risk of all of these accounts also being compromised. For this reason, it is crucial that you secure your email account to prevent ID theft.
Best Practices for Keeping Your Passwords Safe
• Use a complicated and long password: While you may be tempted to use a simple password so you can remember it easily, keep in mind that a simple password is simple to hack. The most secure passwords use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers and symbols. Adding length to the password will also help keep it secure. More than eight characters is recommended.
• Never use the same password for more than one site or account: Each website that you have a login for should use a different password. Using the same password for every account is extremely risky, if a hacker or bot discovers it, they have they keys to everything you do online.
• Manage your passwords offline: If you need help remembering your passwords, look into offline password management programs that can be accessed through one single password which you have committed to memory. Try to avoid using notebooks and paper to manage passwords unless you keep them locked in a safe.
• Make your security questions obscure and difficult to guess: Hackers often exploit security questions; don’t help them by choosing an easy question with an easily guessable answer. Furthermore, make sure your question is not something easy to look up, such as where you went to high school, or your mother’s maiden name. The answer to your security question should something only you know, and can’t be guessed easily like the name of a pet.
Your email is one of the most sensitive online accounts you have. It is crucial that you take every possible step to protect it. Creating a unique password with a difficult security question will go a long way in preventing your information from being stolen. Fortify and manage all your passwords, especially email, and avoid being one of the millions dealing with Identity theft. FBN
By By Mike Merrill of Comm Speed