Protecting yourself from hackers

Question: I have been hearing a lot about cases of computer hackers stealing people’s bank account information and passwords and credit card information, is this actually possible ? and is there anything I can do to protect myself from this happening?

Answer: Unfortunately in this day and age , this is actually all too common of an occurrence, online identity theft and password theft are actual and real dangers while using the internet. However, with just a few precautions you can protect yourself as much as reasonably possible. One of the best methods for protecting yourself is by choosing and employing passwords of adequate strength and security. This is a very touchy subject because not many people really understand how passwords work. However, based on research we have done here at Mother Lode Internet, there are two really good techniques that provide a fairly secure password. . One the most common ways is to have a password that is really hard to remember like PW: yU1d$g3Q!. Passwords work with what is called “encryption”. There is a math algorithm that scrambles what is typed and produces something called a HASH. This is certainly not foolproof for a really good hacker but it does provide a reasonable degree of security. (provided you don’t leave your pass word on a sticky note next to your computer!)

The second method to design a password that works, is easy to remember, and is very difficult to crack, is to create a pass Phrase. This is has been recently adopted as an acceptable and safe password type. It is known to be a lot more difficult to crack the afore mentioned password method. You just choose a small phrase like “I love my cat”. This method is quicker to type, with less chance of some one having to write it onto a Postit or to use a Sharpie and write it on their keyboard. When you have really private information that is in risk of attack it might be a good idea to change passwords on a very regular basis and not recycle previously used passwords with in a pre defined time.

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