Password Safety Hints: From Google and AARP :Identity Theft Blog at Identity Theft Secrets

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Password Safety Hints: From Google and AARP

During this time of the year people are busy shopping and banking on line. How can you protect your passwords and user names effectively while making the most of online shopping, travel and even news services? Find out what tips AARP and Google Privacy have teamed up to offer.

The holiday shopping season keeps many people online, shopping for the best deals, banking and planning their travel. But many people use these services and many more every day from news to travel, that require them to set up accounts with user names and passwords. Passwords are essential for keeping your online information safe from identity theft so it is important to follow three simple instructions for creating, using and storing your passwords.

Google Privacy and AARP have teamed up to provide us with a quick video on using your passwords. Google Product Manager for Business and Trust offers the following tips on keeping your passwords safe, no matter what site or service you are using.

1. Create a secure password, something easy to remember but hard to guess. Do not include public or private information such as names, birthdays or social security numbers. One suggestion is to use a phrase you won't forget. Then use the first letter of each word in that phrase to create a password.
2. Use different passwords for different accounts or services. This way if one password becomes compromised, the remaining sites and information stored there will be protected.
3. Passwords protection and safety are especially important on public computers. Do not use the "remember me" function available on many websites or the "store password" function. Both of these leave your passwords open to use, and your information open to identity theft.

After creating a secure online password, make sure you remember it without writing it down or carrying it with you. This too leaves your information open to access should you lose the paper, calendar or wallet that it is stored in.

The internet is an amazing tool, one which I use every day to earn a living, help my children with homework, and communicate long distance, shop, travel and bank. Without the protection of my passwords to protect me, my identity would be open to others to do the exact same things, but all at my expense and that of my family.

View the AARP and Google video to learn more about these important tips and hints for keeping your password and your identity safe from theft.

Posted by Lisa Carey on December 15, 2008 10:38 AM | Permalink
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Comments on Password Safety Hints: From Google and AARP

Great tips. The first point about not including any publicly available information in your passwords is extremely important and often overlooked. Users of social networks like Facebook and MySpace, in particular, are generally way too forthcoming with personal information on publicly available profile pages. These pages are like gold to an identity thief that is looking to crack personal passwords because they often include spouse or pet names, important dates of birth or other key facts that could be use to crack a password.

Posted by: Compare Identity Theft Protection Services | December 17, 2008 12:58 PM
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