Online Security, The Importance Of Passwords For Online Services
Most online services require to you login with a username and password. While the username is generally visible as you key it, the password is normally blanked out or has the asterisk sign substituted for each character of the password. For example, a password like ‘towimx44′ might appear as ” ******** ” as it is being entered. The objective of this is to make sure that people cannot see your password as you key it. However, there are a few more ways in which the confidentiality of your password could be compromised. We will discuss these issues in the subsequent paragraphs, you will become of few simple measures that could help keep your password safe.
Choosing a password: Do not use a very small password, most websites fix a minimum length for passwords. Always use a password that is at least 8 characters long, combine alphabets, digits and even special symbols if allowed. Do not use your name as a password, avoid using simple words like ‘house’, ‘eternity’ etc. Hackers have special programs that can generate almost every word in the English dictionary. Guessing conventional words is therefore not very difficult, remember to combine digits, alphabets and symbols. A password like ‘IwHyE545′, might sound tough to remember but,the secret lies in creating a password with some logic. The above password could have been created by choosing the first alphabet, of each word from this sentence, I was Hungry yesterday Evening at 5.45pm”.
Keeping passwords: Do not scribble your password near your computer, or in way that any person could identify it as a valuable password. If you must write down passwords, develop some conventions that would help keep them safe. For example, referring to our password mentioned above, ‘IwHyE545′ could be written as ‘WhYw545I’. What we have done is taken off the first character (I) in the password and placed it at the end. We have then changed the alphabets from small to big case and vice versa. While it is best not to note down passwords, millions of computer users do note them down. Never send passwords through emails, online chats etc. If you must note your password, do so in a place that is not near your computer. Also develop some sort of code that will allow you to juggle the characters of your password when you write it down.
Not the same password: Most computer users would typically access around half a dozen online services that need a username and password. If this is true with you, do not use the same password for more than one login. For example, do not use the same password for your email and online banking service. Using the same password for many services means that, you expose all the services if the password is compromised. It might not be possible to do this in certain cases. If you have a Hotmail email account and also use MSN Messenger, try to login to MSN messenger. Once logged in, you can see a link to your Hotmail email account, click it and you would be accessing your Hotmail account in a few moments. This is a bad feature, it means that you can never leave your MSN messenger even for a few minutes. If you did so, any person seated near your computer could click the Hotmail link and read your personal emails.
Change passwords periodically: It is a good idea to change your password periodically. Depending on how sensitive the information that you password protect is, change of password can be done anywhere from once a week to every month. Most of us stay alert when choosing a password for the first time, a certain degree of compacency creeps in if we have to change the password ever week or month. Some online services do not allow the same password to be repeated within a month, this is done for your security so do not fume and fret. Resist the temptation of changing to passwords that are similar to other passwords that you could be using.
Certain online services have implemented algorithms that actually check the ’strength’ of a password that you select. So if you chose a password that is similar to your first name or last name, you get a message regarding the ‘weekness’ of the password. You should also stay alert to fraudsters who try to get your password and misuse it. It is safe to say that you should trust no one with your password, keep it confidential. Stay updated with various phishing scams that try to extract confidential username and password details. A breach of security for your online financial services account could be severe, such frauds can ruin a person or organization financially. Online financial services include, online banking, credit card accounts and even online payment facilities like Paypal and StormPay.
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