WhitehatGuru
Either it is a battlefield or a football field, there are always certain safety tips given to people before going anywhere, & it is recommended to follow them all.
In the same way, for your Online Safety, there are things that you should know before you go Online
Things to do:
- Use a combination of Alphabets(both upper & lower case character), Numbers and Symbols with at-least 8 character when creating a Password.
- Change your Password immediately at your first login if it is a Default Password, a Temporary password or the one you received via email.
- Change your Password Periodically or say, after a fixed interval of time.
- If using a Public Computer, remember to Logout after completing your online session.(prefer PDA/Mobile instead if don’t have access to Personal Computer)
- If you Store your Passwords in your Computer files then remember to encrypt it using some kind of predefined algorithm or by using different file encryption tools. Such as TrueCrypt or dsCrypt
- Also make sure anyone watching you enter your Password may not guess as you type, like in case of typing a password using single hand can be seen easily.
- On the login page, check for Secure login session(SSL Encryption) before you submit your password to server. Also confirm the certificate owner by double clicking the Lock icon. For instance, in case of https://mail.google.com , https confirms that the page is secure and data/Password you will submit will goes encrypted during transmission.
Things to Avoid:
- Avoid use of Dictionary words, your name, important dates or other such Personal Information that can be easily obtained in case of Password and Security question.
- Don’ use same Password for multiple online Account.
- Also avoid using repeating characters(AAAAA or 11111) OR Keyboard patterns(qwerty or 123456).
- Never send your password via Email.
- Never use Public computer (like Cyber cafes,Shops,Hotel etc) to access a site that require Login, as it may contain Trojan,Keylogger,Spyware or other such malware which work in Stealts mode.
- Never reply to mail which claims to come from any of your Online Account services (such as Yahoo,Hotmail,Ebay or Amazon) and asking you to disclose or verify your password, this could be a Spoofed mal or a Phishing attack to steal your password.
- Never use Password Generator/Manager or such Utilities from untrusted source.
- Never store your password in plain text format or on Sticky note.
- And most importantly keep your Password private, if due to some reason you handled your password to someone to access your account then also remember to change it again after their access is no longer required.
Please note, these are just few Points which help keep your Password safe and Protect your Online Privacy, but not enough to stay safe from other Cyber threats. There are a lot of other little things that should be kept in mind in order to stop the attack on your Online Privacy