Theft is happening all around us, just the other day I had a friend text me that my personal e-mail was hacked. I immediately went in and changed the password. Within a couple of days I was hacked again. When it comes to our technology, it’s important that we are creating strong passwords to help prevent fraud. Here are 5 tips that you can do right now to for secure online banking in florida - or anywhere else you have financial information on the web.
- You need a strong password: When creating a password you need to create something you’ll remember but also something that isn’t easy to figure out. For instance 1234 is not a good password. Neither is your birthday, first and last name or stress address. Instead come up with something out of the ordinary something people will not guess. And then change it up, add some numbers and characters to the password as well. Here is an example to get your mind thinking: P@S$W0RD%1. A strong password is absolutely crucial for secure online banking in Florida.
- Don’t use the same password: I can’t stress this enough. Do not use the same password for your e-mail, your cell phone and your credit union account. You are basically saying, “Hello rob me!
You want to create many different passwords with different variations too. Just like, someone figures out your social media password, then uses that same password on your e-mail and guess what, it works. Now they turn to your online banking account and before you know it, you’re left with no money. Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and change those passwords! - Don’t bunch up all the characters: Okay you’re ready to change your password and you’ve gone and made it Password#1234. While you have a combination of numbers, letters and characters it’s best to keep them separated to create a more complex password. Many people use a capital at the start of their password and a character and number at the end. You’re making yourself predictable and that isn’t good to stop theft.
- Think longer password not shorter. There has never been a rule for how long a password should be unless a website tells you, but sticking between 12 and 15 is a good idea to follow. Longer passwords usually work better than random passwords and are a lot easier to remember too.
- Don’t change often: Many times we log into our e-mail and change the password monthly thinking we’re doing ourselves a favor and illuminating the change of being hacked. However, the more you change your password the more you open yourself up for fraud because the less creative your password becomes. Think about it, you start off with Password#1 but every month you have to change it. Next month becomes password #2 and so on until you’ve reached Password#12.
Fraud and theft are happening every day and it’s scary to see what you think is personal being exposed. Protect yourself as much as you can when it comes to your passwords to help reduce the chance of becoming a victim of fraud.