One of the greatest concerns when doing online anything is security. Is my banking site secure, is my computer secure? Is my credit card transaction secure?
Passwords Are Extrememly Important! The Tougher To Guess, The Better
Recently my mother purchased something ‘to good to be true’, and of course, it was.. unfortunately leaving her with the hassle of calling the credit card company, getting her card cancelled, charges reversed, etc..etc.. All due to the fact that she purchased something that was ‘questionable’ and the person selling decided to use their credit card for all kinds of other fun stuff.
That is something that there is little protection against. What I mean is that you have to be aware of the site or method of payment you use before you purchase something. Something like Ebay where you use PayPal or well-known sites like FutureShop or Sears for example you wont’ have a problem with.. I suggest anyone nervous about transactions online, to stick with those!
Passwords however, keep everything else secure.. everything from online banking sites, to work schedules, to personal forums and email. All have passwords. How do you remember them all?
One of the dumbest things you can do is use the same password (especially a word) for all of them. Something like you middle name, or your first name spelled backwards, is NOT a good password! This can easily be guessed, hacked, and used.. so avoid it all costs.
I learned of a trick awhile ago which I’ll share which I think does a really good job of making it easy to remember passwords, plus keeps them secure (so you don’t have to remember something like ukf8001axx).
All you have to do, is have a ‘common start’ to your password.. and then just remember one word about the site you’re at.
Examples are best.. for Royal Bank (my online banking site for example).. I could use something like Hound09Royal for example.. then for Scotia Bank, I could use Hound09Scotia, you see where I’m getting at?
I do this and obviously it’s not Hound09! But I try to use the first word that I think about when I go to any site, for example, my wdtv forum that I visit.. my password would have been Hound09wdtv if given this same sort of format.
Easy to remember, different for each site, and tough to crack.. that’s what good passwords are all about.
Len
PS: If you extra paranoid.. throw in some symbols in there as well and numbers, such as h0undS@09Royal… let’s see someone crack that!