How to: password protection for your digital life

If you are using weak passwords, you do so at your own risk. Hardening like they like a difficult task, but it is you need to aufwenden-nothing compares to the energy - not to mention the losses you may arise - if you one important can be injured. Cut the order on the size on the basis of a few simple rules of thumb. Start set some priorities.

It is no longer acceptable to use dates of birth, names of animals and so on for passwords. Easily guess these words were never secure, but it didn't matter much in the past-honestly, who cared when a black hat in your email account? So what?

However, things are much different today because our lives now digital are encased in. Everything from banking is now inexorably online relationships.

Here is how you protect your digital life with hardened passwords.

Determine which accounts to start hardening. Should you systematically re password of the online accounts related to money first.

This can be quite a project, so you start with banks and other valuable Web accounts; Progress, email and social networks. At the end-on a rainy day-tag passwords for smaller accounts as customer cards.

Vary passwords, and create different for each account. This is especially important for all sensitive accounts such as banking. Make passwords by hand using a combination of letters, numbers, and characters.

Introducing capital letters at random within words; If you to spell words she spell wrong and to use multiple independent words. Use numbers instead of letters from time to time, substitute such as a zero for an "o".

Alternative methods include a phrase think and take the first letter of each word- or variations on the theme.

Tip: Crackers can can use computer-controlled dictionaries, check and try word list substitutions, the millions of pattern of passwords per second.

Not directly do answer the security question. For example, security question requires name at birth or in the first school of the mother, they fabricate.

Tip: As in the previous step, use the same engineering-for example, or your response to beef things even more. Just don't forget, what is the answer.

Use two-factor authentication if it is offered. This method of protection used two factors, typically a password (something you know) and a phone or other device (something you owned have).

I've prescribed authentication via Google. Facebook also provides this method of authentication.

Tip: Maintain no password list on a device, you use two-factor authentication.

Pay attention to social engineering attempts. These are human interventions that are designed, a criminal to entice you to give out your password. To avoid this problem, never give out your password.

Tip: You reset a password, if you are in doubt that you cheated been can.

Last pass, iPassword KeePass and Clipperz are all password managers that are in price from free to $ 50. Features include DropBox integration, mobile integration, encryption, and password generation

Tip: Unfortunately is the nature of the animal, which the easier is that the easier to remember password is to crack the password.

Add password protection offered. Laptops and cell phones can endangered lost síé or casual thieves.

It is not just professional cracker, which you need to protect yourself from. Laptops are often fenced and resold.

Delete emails from senders account containing your password. Change always the initial setup password when you are prompted.

Set the parental purchases to in-app for your mobile device. This is an area where a password is useful in preventing any game upgrades that can occur quickly and inexplicably if you her iPad a child for games-give, what happened to me. I am about 40 dollars poorer than I was before I borrowed the Tablet because I restrictions left open.

Tip: Apple's device is "Restrictions" in the settings. In-app purchases in the store Google controls Android play. You can both passwords, you should not share with children.

Do it all again when you have finished. Password cracking goes time-how many attempts at a guess over a period of time can be made.

More often, the password is changed, the less likely ones who be cracked is.

There is you a piece of tech would know how to properly? There is a gadget that has confused? Please send your tech questions to me, and I will try as many as possible answer in this article.

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Patrick Nelson has been a professional writer since 1992. He was editor and publisher of the music-industry journal report producer and has written for a number of technology blogs. Nelson studied at Hornsey School of art design and wrote the cult classic novel Sprawlism. His introduction into the technology was as nomadic talent scout in the 1980s, where regular scratch modems with Alligator Clips to see hotel room beds necessary, to the hotel telephone cabling fax was out connected. He tasted to down and dirty, and never looked back.