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Hacked!

22/3/2013

 
Are you one of the unfortunate people who've had their email account hacked?  No, well how about taking some steps to make sure you're not.  The fact that we've had some many hacked members says to me that your passwords are too simple.

Did you know that most of us use simple passwords, that are easily susceptible to a 'brute force' hack for lots of the same sites.  I'm guilty of it myself to a certain extent as I use the same password for lots of sites where you have to register to enter comps.  However, when it comes to emails, banking, etc. I'm much more careful and have a different and complicated password for each site.

Here are a few ways you can create a strong password;

1. Use a password generator like 1Password or Last Pass.  They will create and remember secure passwords for you.  The downside of this is that they will be something that you'll never remember, so you will need the software installed on all PCs and devices you use.

2. Think of a memorable phrase or your favourite line from a film.  Eg: These's aren't the droids you're looking for.  Then take the first letter of each word, add some upper/lower case, add a number and special character and you get something like Tatdyl4! this is hard to guess but easy to remember.

3. Same as above except take all the vowels out Eg. Thsrntthdrdsyrlkng4!  That makes a nice long and secure password

4. Choose two words that mean something to you and combine their letters to create the password, choosing one letter of the first word and one letter of the second word, and repeating this until you get to the last letter of each word. Eg: Words: house & plane become password: Hpolu4snee! (if you include the case, number & special character)

5. As above choose 2 words, then reverse them, then add the case, number & special character. Eg. 'Scarlet Pickles' becomes selkciPtelracS when reversed, then selkciPtelr4cS! for the password

4. Use any of the above as a 'base' password, then add a prefix or suffix that means something to the site you're using.  This is an easy way of using the same-ish password for several sites.  Eg.
for the bank; Tatdyl4!bank
for yahoo; emailTatdyl4!
for amazon; Tatdyl4!books


There are plenty of ways to create a more secure password and if you don't like any of those let me know and I'll find something else for you.

So think about your current email password, is it too simple?  If so, why not change it before you get hacked!

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