8 Ways to Secure Your Online Accounts

The more popular the internet gets, the more malicious hackers like to take advantage of people using it. Here are 8 tips for not becoming a victim.

The internet has come a long ways since it first started, and people are using it for nearly everything they do these days. We use it at work for email and online services, at home for Facebook, online banking, gaming, and email. We even use it on the phone for quick online banking (Bank of America application) and, again, email.

It seems like email is the main thing in our lives though, doesn’t it? Without email, we couldn’t link our online banking to anything for account information, we couldn’t get Facebook notifications, we couldn’t send important documents to co-workers and so on. So why, for such an important thing in our lives, would we want to be so careless with it? BBC News has reported on two lists with more than 30,000 names and passwords from email providers, including Yahoo and AOL, which were posted online. The lists also include details of thousands of Microsoft Hotmail users. All because users were careless with their accounts.

The more popular a technology gets, the more malicious hackers like to take advantage of people using the it. They see that email is the center of nearly all we do and they use that to their advantage. So how do we keep our information from getting stolen by some person halfway around the world with nothing better to do? Honestly, it isn’t that difficult if you know their tricks.

These people are usually opportunists — they don’t want to do more work then they have to. Seeing as email is used by nearly everyone who uses the internet, they are going to focus on this for their attacks. Once they crack into your inbox, they are most likely going to find a ton of information about you. They can find passwords to other email accounts, important company documents, personal information, credit card information, and so much more. So how are we going to stop them from getting all this information?

First: Have a good anti-virus program, AND USE IT! Good anti-virus software can catch trojans that may have been installed on your computer by just surfing the web. A trojan is software that can be installed on your computer without you knowing it and can give the hacker usernames and passwords to your accounts.

Second: Be wary of any email or website asking for personal information. Criminals sometimes send fake emails that look legitimate to get your passwords. This is called phishing. Most companies have a strict policy to never ask for your passwords in emails, so don’t trust these requests.

Third: Delete your confirmation emails. These are the emails that you get when you set up new accounts for websites and include your username and password to the application. If someone does crack your inbox he will use these to get into those programs and do harm there, or use them to try and crack more important online sites of yours.

Fourth (and probably most important): Have a secure password AND secret question. Weak passwords are like buying a cheap plastic lock and key to secure your important belongings. This is your best protection from a hacker or anyone getting into your accounts. The complexity of a user’s password can lengthen the time of hacker’s attack from 2 days to 2 centuries. Follow these steps by microsoft to help you have a strong password.

Having a good secret question is also a very smart idea. If you have a strong password and a poor secret question, there really is no point to the password then. Make the question something that only you know and don’t share it with anyone.

Fifth: Clear your browser’s cache regularly. All web browsers store a history of where you have been recently to help make it faster to get to your favorite sites. Well, if it is easier for the user it is even easier on the hacker. For example, the hacker can go through your history and find the banking site that you use, then can start trying any usernames and passwords that you have used before on other sites he sees in your previous history.

Sixth: Change your password regularly. Doing this resets the time it takes for the hacker to get into your account. Let’s say a hacker was targeting your account and was using a software to try every possible password combination on your account, which may take weeks. Now you go in and change your password. You just forced him to start from the beginning again.

Seventh: Use a secondary email account. This is an email that links to your first email in case you forget your password. Let’s say a hacker is trying to get in your account from the “I forgot my password” screen and instead of a secret question you have a secondary email set up. This will force the hacker to have to break into your other email too before getting to your information. This secondary account can also be used to recover your other account if it has been compromised.

And finally: Never log into your account from a public place. Public locales (such as coffee shops) seem handy, but can be the most dangerous place to check your account. Common key loggers can be installed to copy your passwords.

If you follow these eight rules and keep your anti-virus software up-to-date, you have a much better chance of staying safe online.

Read More

• Secure Your Social Networking Profile
• Email “Delivery Failure” Messages
• Protecting Your Company
• Stuck Emails in Outlook Outbox

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