Protecting Your Data

We all have safety measures to protect the things we treasure. We protect our credit card and bank account information, we have keys to our cars, keys to our house, and we protect other account information by shredding information we don't want other people to view or use.

But, do you also take care to protect your online information? When we think about having information taken online thoughts usually go toward making purchases online. While it's important to stay sharp and protect your information while shopping, do you take as much care with the rest of your online information?

Today, being online means we all have at least one email account, possibly more. Most of us also have domain names we have purchased. Some of us probably are responsible for updating websites as well through some type of CMS interface. All of these services require user names and passwords for access. How strict you are about defining passwords will in large part determine how safe your data really is.

If your email address is part of the access code, i.e. your user name, then anyone online looking to get your information already has 1/2 of the access code. Your name is Bob, and your email is bob@hotmail.com, and your dog's name is spot - that's probably the password. If so, then the person is in your application, and there's nothing to stop it, except the password that's too easy to guess.

In the recent past, most of you received passwords from system managers, like me, and we really are bad about assigning passwords that are hard to remember. But, we know how important it is to safeguard this information. Today, there are so many areas where people can sign up for services, and the password, along with the security, is up to you when you define your password. If you have not been been diligent about defining good passwords, then now at the beginning of the year is a good time to start.

What makes a good password? Basically, something random that is hard to guess. Yes, you have to remember it, but it will keep your information safe. For starters, a good password should be 8 characters in length. Preferably, it should contain numbers and alpha characters. Ideally, it should be completely random, and not something like brenda33, although that's better than Spot! :)

This small, but important safeguard could save you some big headaches later. Imaging having someone hack into your web registry and point your domain to another site, or get a copy of all of your email? All of these services should have a good password to protect them.

The saying is really true: better safe now than sorry later.