PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY ONLINE
Just as one needs to be "street savvy" when walking around cities, one needs to be "Internet savvy" when using the Internet.
Having a subscription to comprehensive antivirus, anti-spyware software and a good firewall is all now essential, especially for Microsoft Windows users. Users of Mac and Linux machines should not be too smug either as there are known viruses for both these systems. It only takes one attack to make you lose your hard work.
We all receive email from time to time asking us to click on a link to our bank, or some bank to update our details. Never follow one of those links if you want to protect your online banking! Close the email and go to your normal banking site, log in as you normally do and check what the bank wants. They do not send out links for you to follow - this is a clear indication of "phishing", the practice of getting you to fill in your information on a bogus but very convincing looking website. Also, check your banking and credit card statements every month or more often online. This way, you will quickly detect if someone has stolen your details and is busy spending your salary and savings for you.
If someone asks you to send money to them as part of some investment or great-deal purchase in which you will make money - it is likely a hoax. This has happened in the sale of land and goods, even cars.
If you like subscribing to e-newsletters and e-magazines, you may find your spam increasing. You could create a second email account which you use just for registrations on websites and for newsletters. This way when the spam gets to be too much, you can abandon the address and create another new one without having to change your regular address. Email hosts such as Hotmail (Microsoft), gMail (Google) and Yahoo have come a long way in catching your spam before it reaches you. It makes a lot of sense to use them these days.
The Internet is still a new frontier, and as such shady characters immediately move there to catch those who are being naïve. Take care and don't give away too much information about yourself. Keep both your PC clean of personal information and shred any printed financial statements before you drop them in the trash - you don't know who may get access to your trash can!
WHAT'S YOUR PASS PHRASE?
Creating and using effective passwords has become critical to preventing criminals from getting hold of your personal details. The risk we all run with weak passwords is finding that someone has taken money from our banking account, spent money on our credit cards or has used our email account to send emails to others we would never have sent.
There are frequent warnings about the "old" passwords we used to use (say 10 years ago or more), passwords like "janet", "tree" or, worse, "password". These are just no good today. Also, the longer you keep using the same password, the more likely it is that someone else could get access to it. Worst yet, is if you use the same password for everything; when someone gets hold of that password, they can access everything you do.
Websites often refer to passwords and sometimes "pass phrases". A pass phrase is something much longer. If you formed a short sentence of around 15 characters, it would be more secure than a four-character password. If you use a mixture of kinds of characters, this will help to make the password or pass phrase much more difficult to copy. Even if someone looks over your shoulder while you type in the password, it should be difficult to read and remember what you are typing in - it should look confusing!
How to create good passwords
The IBM website has these tips for creating effective passwords:
The only safe place to keep a password is in your head or a locked safe, which only you know the combination to.
Effective passwords need to be fairly long, but not so long that you can't remember them. Three-character passwords are too short.
Use special characters, uppercase letters, and numerals in a logical manner. Here are some examples:
- UPPER CASE LETTERS: Using upper case letters in conjunction with lowercase letters will offer some protection if you have the functionality of "case sensitivity." You could then use the password "HeyYou" [or even, "hEYyOU], which is different from "heyyou". Adding uppercase letters adds a layer of complexity making passwords harder to crack.
- SPECIAL CHARACTERS: Using special characters such as "#", or "%" also adds to complexity. Take the word "money", add the pound sign after it (money#) and you have a fairly effective password.
- NUMERALS: Using numerals also adds complexity to the mix. If your identity number or social security number is 123-45-6789, you can use the last four digits with an easily remembered word such as "money", making your password "money6789".
- MNEMONIC PHRASES: If you're a phrase collector from movies or songs, you can take a great line and make it into a password. Let's say you're a Star Wars fan. You can take the phrase: "May the Force Be With You" and use the first character from each word to create the password "MTFBWY".
- SUBSTITUTION: You can use a number or sign in substitution for a word. If you know that the "$" sign equals the word "money," then you can tie it into a password scheme such as "Ilove$". This is a simple-to-remember password that is difficult to crack.
www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/s-pass.html