TNI Bureau: Around 6.46 million LinkedIn user had a tough time when their passwords were hacked by a Russian hacker. Reports say that hackers have downloaded more 300,000 passwords.
LinkedIn took action quickly by disabling accounts which they thought weren’t strong enough. It also sent them a notification to choose new strong passwords.
You can assume your password to be the key of your home which contains all your valuable information. If the hacker can get into your LinkedIn account so can he then into your emails or bank account details and get things messed up.
The question now arises how secure your passwords. Here are a few tips:
1. STRONG PASSWORDS:
It is very important to choose a strong and complex password to secure your account. Let it not be very simple and obvious. One of the most common password topic is religion. People love to keep passwords like god, Jesus and sometimes number series like 1234 or 9876.
Choose a password that is preferably that is minimum 8 characters, and a mixture or letter, alphabets and symbols. If still you want to be sure, you can test it on Microsoft’s secure Password checker.
2. DO NOT USE SAME PASSWORD FOR EVERY SITE:
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Make sure you do not use the same password for any other site. If any one of them gets hacked, you have a chance to lose all your accounts.
3. CHANGE PASSWORDS REGULARLY:
Change your passwords after at least 3 months or so. It’s just the same way you renew your batteries after a while.
4. DO NOT RESPOND TO UNKNOWN LINKS:
There are many unknown links, which appear on various web pages. It is important to not to click on them. Sometimes there are certain fake mails which tell you have won something, do not fall for that. All these mails and links are spam. They can increase your risk for your ID getting hacked.
People generally do not follow these steps. They find it a difficult task to remember complicated passwords. If you are one of them then I have a simple trick for you. Choose a sentence, song or any favorite line of yours which you won’t forget. Use the first letter in capitals of each word to make your password. E.g. –Like your favorite song is “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”, then your password will be IYHAYKICYH. This can further get more difficult by adding a few numbers between the letters.
Following these steps will be the best practice to ensure your security.