Four tips to lock out hackers are:
1. Change your passwords after working on an insecure network.
2. Use a password manager app, or create a list of passwords on a password protected document on your desktop.
3. Make your passwords long and hard to figure out but easy to remember.
4. Password protect your computer, tablet, and phone.
Tip 1:
Change your password after using an insecure Wi-Fi network such as the free ones at coffee shops and hotels.
Since I travel quite often and use various hotels’ Wi-Fi, I am careful to change my passwords often and to never do any banking or sensitive transactions while on an insecure network.
When I get home from my trip, I usually change the password on any website I visited while I was working on the insecure network. I am especially careful to change my email account(s) password(s) because it is easy to get hacked while at a hotel or restaurant.
Tip 2:
The second tip to lock out hackers is to discover easy ways to remember your passwords.
While clicking around on Facebook, I discovered that I am certainly not the only one who gets frustrated trying to remember passwords. Changing a password and then remembering the new password could be a hassle, but it really isn’t.
I have an app called eWallet on my phone and my iPad. I store all my passwords in that app and the two devices sync with each other. I only have to remember one master password on eWallet to view all the other passwords that I use.
But there is another easy way to remember the passwords from day to day without having to purchase an app.
For convenience, I keep a document on my desktop that I can refer to every time I want to open a website such as Pinterest, Linkedin, TeachersPayTeachers, my blog, etc.
Then, all I have to do is open the website I wish to enter and copy and paste in the user name and/or the password.
I password protect the document. While I am working at my desk, I leave it open. Whenever I leave my desk, and at the end of the day, I close it and it stays protected until I open it again. This way, I only have to remember one password, and I copy and paste the others.
If you are using MS WORD, it is easy to put a password on a document.
1. Open the document that you want to protect.
2. On the WORD menu, click Preferences
3. Under Personal Settings, click Security
4. In the Password to open box, type a password, and then click OK
5. In the Confirm Password dialog box, type the password again, and then click OK.
6. Click Save.
Just be careful to remember that password. Make it one that you will not forget or be sure to write it down. You will not be able to open the document if you forget the password and there is absolutely no way to retrieve it.
Tip: To remove a password, select all contents in the Password to Open Box, and then press DELETE.
Tip 3:
The third way to lock out hackers is to create long passwords, Try to include a capital letter and a numeral and a punctuation mark.
A tip from Kim Komando’s radio show helped me to think of strong passwords. She said to think of a line of poetry, or the words to a song, or a phrase that means something to you and use the first letter in each word. If possible convert some of the letters to numerals and add a punctuation mark at the end.
For example: On a midnight train to Georgia!
The password would be: Oamt2G!
or – I want to dance with you!
The password would be: Iw2dwy!
These passwords look so complicated, but they are so simple, and it makes the passwords difficult to figure out but easy to remember. Click here for a list of lines that could be used for passwords.
Tip Four:
The 4th way to lock out hackers is to always secure your computer, phone, and tablet with a passcode lock, so no one can get into your device without your knowledge. It may take a moment longer to open your computer, phone or tablet, but it could save you from a nightmare in case of loss or theft.
Always avoid using your birth date or the date of your wedding anniversary or the year you graduated from high school or college. A bit of clicking around on the Web will often reveal that information very easily, especially if you are active on social networks. Also, never use 1234, 4321, or a series of zeros.
Do whatever you can to lock out hackers. Protect your sensitive data and your files.
I hope your day is a good one!
Visit my store or my website for tips on grammar and writing.
You might also like Charlene’s post about managing paperwork for teachers.
You might also like Charlene’s post for helping children at home for either homeschool or enrichment about whether or not published workbooks can be trusted.
