In today’s modern world, we can’t run away from having online accounts.
It’s part of the digital lifestyle. And this too, poses never-before-seen danger.
Many accounts (including that of celebrities) have been hacked.
Guess what? It’s not that the hackers are technically advanced but they use common sense to break into someone else’s account.
Think about it.
What do you use for passwords?
Your child’s name?
His birthday?
Your house number?
Your sweetheart’s name?
Your place of birth?
Your dog’s name?
The problem with this kind of passwords is they are open secrets. And easily available and found.
You need to be different. Not for aesthetic purposes but to protect yourself online.
You need strong, complicated passwords.
Here’s a tip I got from a book. You just need to come up with a strong base password and combine with 2 letters (first and last) of the domain name of the website (front, back or split – see explanation below).
The easy to remember password can be the initials of a sentence. For example: “I love to eat pizza and donuts.” Hence the base password will be “Il2ep&d.”
Preferably, the password is 9 characters long as it will fulfill most websites’ minimum length.
So if your base strong password was “Il2ep&d” and you were logging into “Google.com” you would add the letters “g” and “e.” Your final password could be “geIl2ep&d”, “gIl2ep&de”, or
“Il2ep&dge” depending on where you decide to put the two letters.
This system works like a gangbuster (note that the password also contains a number and a symbol which makes it stronger) and ensures you have just “one” password to remember, but a different password for every system. If that system gets compromised, hackers will think you’re using a strong password and give up when they try it elsewhere and it doesn’t work.
Important: If your child is into the online thingy too, teach this strategy to him. As the famous saying goes: Prevention is better than cure.
And here’s another one: Better be safe than sorry.
P.S. There will be no emails from me for the next two weeks. I’ll be away holidaying.
What?
You say you will suffer from PW Withdrawal Syndrome?
Okay, okay…
Here’s a solution:
1. Goto PW archives at http://www.parentwonder.com/archives/
2. Read all the past articles as many as you can. I’m pretty sure this will keep you sober until I get back.
Or get a copy of my book and read it:
The Nonconformist’s Guide to Parenting
See you when I get back.
