Nobody preferences being the casualty of a wrongdoing. Be that as it may, while we make a move straight away if our house is broken into or if our bank cards are missing or stolen, we may not generally acknowledge promptly on the off chance that somebody has taken advantage of our super or got to our own data on the web.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness month. Secure passwords are the way to your computerized life. Make certain to secure your data by using the tips gave in this article.
This is section 2 in a progression of blog entries we will distribute on different themes went for teaching you on the most proficient method to protect your accounts.
What you need to be aware of
Most people are aware of spamming, but a lot of people may not be so familiar with phishing.
EMAIL FRAUD – “PHISHING”
Phishing describes cybercriminals’ attempts to fraudulently acquire your personal information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business in electronic communications including email, texts or instant messages.
- Signs of a phishing communication can include:
- not addressing you by your name, or using unusual forms of address
- misspelling and inconsistent graphics/ images
- asking you for sensitive information
- creating a sense of urgency—scammers may try to test your better
- judgment by stating that something needs your immediate attention.
- sender address that looks unfamiliar or peculiar, or
- unfamiliar or unexpected attachments contained in the email—don’t open
- them as they may contain malicious software.
How You Can Create a Secure Password
In order to avoid being a victim of these kinds of hacks, we’ve amassed a collection of Do’s and Don’ts on how to choose a secure user password. A secure password is one a hacker can’t easily guess or crack using software tools and one that is unique and complex.
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Do use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) whenever possible. 2FA adds another layer of security to any account you may be logging into. When using 2FA, you can choose two of three types of identification to provide:
A password or pin number.
A tangible item such as the last 4 digits of a credit card in your possession or a mobile device that a code can be sent to.
A part of you such as a fingerprint or voiceprint.
- Do use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers.
- Don’t use commonly used passwords such as 123456, the word “password,” “qwerty”, “111111”, or a word like, “monkey”.
- Do make sure your user passwords are at least eight characters long. The more characters and symbols your passwords contain, the more difficult they are to guess.
- Don’t use a solitary word in any language. Hackers have dictionary-based systems to crack these types of passwords. If you insist on using a word, misspell it as much as possible, or insert numbers for letters. For example, if you want to use the phrase “I love chocolate” you can change it to @1L0v3CH0c0L4t3!
- Don’t use a derivative of your name, the name of a family member or the name of a pet. In addition to names, do not use phone numbers, addresses, birthdays or Social Security numbers.
- Don’t use the same password across multiple websites. If remembering multiple passwords is an issue, you can use a password manager such as Norton Identity Safe to securely store your passwords.
- DO use abbreviated phrases for passwords. You can choose a phrase such as “I want to go to England.” You can convert this phrase to an abbreviation by using the first letters of each word and changing the word “to” to a number “2.” This will result in the following basic password phrase: iw2g2e. Make it even more complex by adding punctuation, spaces or symbols: %iw2g2e!@
- Don’t write your passwords down, share them with anyone or let anyone see you log into devices or websites.
- Do change your passwords regularly.
- Do log out of websites and devices when you are finished using them.
- Don’t answer “yes” when prompted to save your password to a particular computer’s browser. Instead, rely on a strong password committed to memory or stored in a dependable password management program. Norton Security stores your passwords securely and fills them in online in encrypted form.
If all of this is too much for you, you can simplify this process by using the Norton Identity Safe Password Generator. It will allow you to customize your password by length, and gives you the choice of including letters, numbers, mixed case and punctuation.