I am sure you have heard numerous times you need to have a secure password and adequate virus protection. Those are basic things you must do to be safe. There are some other things you can do to stay secure.
I am sure you have heard to make your password at least 8-14 characters, alternate upper and lower case, do not use "words", do not use consecutive numbers or letters, and don't use your logon name as a password. Check out this site to test your password security.
https://howsecureismypassword.net
There are some other things you need to be aware of in our tech savy world. Do you ever go to a coffe shop and while your there you check to see if that check went in the bank? If you do, you are opening up your bank account and sharing your information with hackers and identity thieves. Just because a wireless connection, like a coffee shop, requires a password does not mean that is a secure connection. Anyone that is on that same wireless link could access your logon information to use later. You also should be aware of shoulder surfers too. You could run into this same thing when using your computer or phone at the airport. Shoulder surfers are those people that linger over your shoulder to see you log into your bank account or Facebook. I am not trying to make you paranoid but these are tactics used daily by hackers.
If you travel a lot with work or just for the occasional vacation, have you noticed some hotels provide computers for your use either in your hotel room or in lobby areas? These are great for looking up random things but, do not use these to check your email, bank accounts, or even Facebook. These computers could have key logging software added to them and they could get all of your log on information this way. I am not saying hotels do this on purpose but, how many times have you heard of friends having a camera and such taken out of their rooms while on vacation? This is the same concept only it goes a little deeper. You do not know who has access to those computers and what they may be doing with them.
I am sure you have heard to make your password at least 8-14 characters, alternate upper and lower case, do not use "words", do not use consecutive numbers or letters, and don't use your logon name as a password. Check out this site to test your password security.
https://howsecureismypassword.net
There are some other things you need to be aware of in our tech savy world. Do you ever go to a coffe shop and while your there you check to see if that check went in the bank? If you do, you are opening up your bank account and sharing your information with hackers and identity thieves. Just because a wireless connection, like a coffee shop, requires a password does not mean that is a secure connection. Anyone that is on that same wireless link could access your logon information to use later. You also should be aware of shoulder surfers too. You could run into this same thing when using your computer or phone at the airport. Shoulder surfers are those people that linger over your shoulder to see you log into your bank account or Facebook. I am not trying to make you paranoid but these are tactics used daily by hackers.
If you travel a lot with work or just for the occasional vacation, have you noticed some hotels provide computers for your use either in your hotel room or in lobby areas? These are great for looking up random things but, do not use these to check your email, bank accounts, or even Facebook. These computers could have key logging software added to them and they could get all of your log on information this way. I am not saying hotels do this on purpose but, how many times have you heard of friends having a camera and such taken out of their rooms while on vacation? This is the same concept only it goes a little deeper. You do not know who has access to those computers and what they may be doing with them.
At home, keep your computer up to date with it's virus software and Windows updates. You should virus scan at least once a week along with a malware scan. If I have not shared this one with you before www.malwarebytes.org has free malware software you can download. Do not click on pop up ads and do not open emails from people you do not know. Be safe out there, it's a jungle.
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