In the past month alone, two of my clients had their emails hacked. As a tech guru, I'm embarrassed to admit it...but I've also been hacked. Not once, but twice. I should know better than most the importance of having a secure password, but getting lulled into a false sense of security is so easy, especially when truly strong passwords are so hard to remember! But after my most recent incident, I decided it was time to get serious about my online security.
Using a method known as a "brute force attack" hackers use publicly available information about you within a software program that will continuously try various combinations of that data in an attempt to gain access to your email. Once they have access to your email address they can find out what sites you visit and will try to access those as well. They won't change your password, because then you would know immediately what they're up to.
Here are some tips for making your passwords hacker resistant:
1. Don't use real words
2. Don't use personal information
3. Use a combination of upper and lowercase letters
4. Use symbols
5. Don't use the same password for every log in
An example (please don't use this) of a secure password would be "t48E#67@".
You might think it's a headache to change your passwords, but it's nothing compared to the potential nightmare that occurs if your information is compromised, especially if you have financial data stored in sites where purchases can be made with your account. Most internet browsers will store your passwords for most sites securely, making it unnecessary for you to remember them all. Never store your passwords in a file on your computer, like a word document, but rather write them down and store them in a secure location.
Here are some additional tips. Good article from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/technology/personaltech/how-to-devise-passwords-that-drive-hackers-away.html?smid=pl-share
