While websites have gotten a lot more secure over the years, scammers too have found better ways to steal your information. This is why it’s more important than ever to make your passwords as strong as possible.
“Choosing a good password is vital to being secure online as it reduces the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft,” says Nigel Hedges, Technical Services Manager for Kaspersky Lab Australia and New Zealand. “A strong password protects your confidential data and makes it harder for cybercriminals to access valuable personal information and fraudulently obtain goods and services in your name or steal your money.”
There are easy things you can do to make yourself more secure. One such way is to add a number followed by an exclamation or a question mark to your password. Just taking a word like “cheese” and adding “42!” makes your password harder to crack for pirates.
Mr. Hedges suggests the following when dealing with passwords:
- Make your passwords memorable
- Your passwords should be kept secret
- Try mixing uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and non-alphanumeric characters. For instance, if the password is “flower12”, you might have FloweR!2
- Don’t use the same password for multiple accounts
- Don’t get in the habit of recycling passwords. You shouldn’t just be adding a new number to the end of each password.
