Protecting Your Internet Identity – Part 1

This month’s article deals with the every present threat of identity theft on the internet. Increasingly cyber criminals have turned to this method as it presents the easiest way to part you from your hard earned money. Coupled with this is the increased use of email accounts and passwords as the primary method to access online services. Identify theft can result in serious financial loss coupled with embarrassment when your friends and family are targeted as a result of your web address book becoming available to the cyber criminal.

The following are some simple, but very important, steps to reduce the risk of your email being hacked.

Tip  1. Use Strong Passwords
Any password you use should not be easily guessed by the cyber criminal. Thus you should avoid simple passwords such as your own name or indeed those of your siblings or children. Passwords should be at least eight characters in length and should contain a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers. By default we tend to use easy to remember passwords such as “ashling”. Changing this to a stronger password by adding numbers and upper/lower case letter would result in a password such as aSh83Li19Ng. The chances of the new password being guessed are much less likely. Remembering it is not so simple. If you must record it then record it on paper! Do not put it in a file on your computer as a hacker may gain access to your pc and find it.

Tip 2. Setup Security For Cloud Email  Accounts
I have seen many cases where “cloud” email accounts have been stolen. By cloud email I am referring specifically to Microsoft hotmail, live and Google gmail accounts. If you must use one of these services, I don’t recommend them, then take the time to setup the security correctly and record this information on paper. It is critical that you maintain this information as without it is very difficult to regain access to your account should it be stolen.

I recommend you have multiple email accounts and use them as follows:
·    Use one account for high security such as banking and buying online. Never use this account for any other correspondence and use an extra strong password and change it frequently.
·    Use a second account for regular email to friends and family but do not use it for sign up notification services from retailers.
·    Use your third account as your scrap account for signing up to online offers and correspondence with internet sites.

In the March edition I will provide some additional tips on this issue,  Stay safe!

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com. The link for this article for friends and family is  http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/   His  facebook account is :  Http://www.facebook.com/reidyonline.