11 03, 2013

Been Hacked? Here’s what to do

By judythemorgan|2013-03-11T07:25:04-05:00March 11th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Recognize that you are not alone! From the Spamlaws.com site:

“Spam accounts for 14.5 billion messages globally per day.”

A major portion of spam is generated by hacked email accounts. Being aware of such statistics, we must be diligent.

But that’s not always easy.

Crafty spammers lure victims into opening the email by using intriguing subject lines or a scary warning message or raise curiosity by using an enticing subject.

Most of us have received an email at one point or another with the subject need help and something about being stuck in some foreign place and needing money.

Likely as not, the email is not from a friend. The logical thing to do is simply delete, but, if you have world traveling friends, you hesitate.

When my email account was hacked and starting sending out the I’m stranded emails, relatives and friends who knew we did a lot of travel oversea actually called to verify the email was not from me.

But it’s not just those I’m stranded emails that suck us into responding.

Official looking mails with subjects like “Yahoo or PayPal or your Bank or Credit Card Company is verifying your account information” are a favorite ploy of hackers.

No matter how legitimate those emails appear, NEVER respond or click on any links. Credible sources will NOT ask for your password.

All that’s good to know information, you say, but it comes too late.

What should I do now that my email acount’s been hacked?

Here are my suggestions:

· Check your computer’s security.

This is the very first step. Until you do this, any other steps are useless.

Make sure, no matter which operating system you use, your anti-virus and anti-malware programs are up-to-date. With most programs, you can set the software program to automatically update when new security fixes are available.

If you cannot afford security software, you can find quality free security software. Simply search ’best free security software reviews’ in your preferred search engine.

· Change your password and make it stronger.

For tips and suggestions on how to do this, read the first part of this series here.

Next, and equally important, develop the habit of changing your passwords often.

· Send an email to all your contacts saying you were hacked.

Be sure to include notifying any site boards or loops to which you belong.

No reason to be embarrassed. Remember the statistics. Being hacked will happen to all of us at some point.

· Smarten up about spam, phishing, and scams.

If the little voice in your head says an email looks suspicious, it probably is!

Do NOT click on any links unless you are sure of the source. If you’re unsure, you should copy and paste the link into your browser.

· **Validate any program, game, app, video, or song before downloading.**

Statistics show that one out of every fourteen downloads contains malware, and planting malware on your computer is how hackers hijacked your email in the first place. Hackers crack anti-malware and anti-virus software almost as fast as it is developed.

Know the source you are downloading from!

And always be on guard.

YOUR TURN: What measures do you take to protect your email accounts?

19 02, 2013

Do you use weak passwords on-line?

By judythemorgan|2013-02-19T06:48:59-06:00February 19th, 2013|Uncategorized|12 Comments

A weak password is one way your computer can be compromised according to computer security experts at Webroot.

I taught computer literacy for nine years. Computer and internet security was one component of that class. I use what I considered strong passwords.

Yet my email account was recently hacked. It was embarrassing and annoying, but at least I was in good company.

Six e-mail accounts belonging to members of the Bush family were recently hacked with some of the contents posted online. For the full account, read here.

After the Bush episode, most computer users recognize that hacking could happen to ALL of us. After personally being hacked, I am more convinced than ever that no one is immune to a hacker.

If you have weak passwords, you are at even higher risk. I offer these tips to making your password stronger.

AVOID dictionary words.

Password cracking programs contain a dictionary filled with commonly used dictionary words which means your Harriedme201 is crackable in mere seconds.

AVOID names.

All of us like to use pet names, favorite book characters, actors or actresses names, or names of places we’ve been. Hackers always look for these. Again easily crackable.

AVOID using any part of your email account as a password.

This is a hard one to follow because, as professional writers, we all want name recognition. What better way than using our name at our namewebsite.com as our email address. Experts tell us we are asking for trouble without a strong password.

Wt4e-79P-B13^qS is an example of a strong password. So how do you create a STRONG password?

USE a minimum of 10 characters in your password. Best are passwords with more than 15 characters. Why? The more letters the harder to crack.
USE uppercase, lower case letter, numbers, and special characters randomly throughout your password. Be creative. Don’t substitute obvious symbols for obvious letters, i.e. 1 or ! for the letter L, @ for A, etc.

Here’s a chart of useable special characters acceptable for password use.

You can also use emoticons smiley faces such as these to create a strong password:

For more ways to change your weak password, check out this site.

Once you have your strong password, follow these suggestions:

USE a unique password for each site you visit. It’s a daunting task-creating and memorizing multiple passwords. However, it is the smartest way to avoid being hacked.
CHANGE your password at least twice a year. Better: change it every 45 to 90 days.
GUARD your passwords. You can use password programs or create your own method, but decide how you’re going to keep up with your passwords and begin keeping track.

Edie Melson has some excellent ideas for safeguarding your passwords. Check out her blog here.

Will using a strong passward prevent hacking of your accounts? Maybe, maybe not, but following these tips can’t hurt.

YOUR TURN: Are you using a weak password?