Are You Going to be a Cyber-Criminal’s Next Victim? Well…are you?

By | March 17, 2012
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OK folks. We’re determined to keep you safe. We don’t want you being a hacker’s next victim. If you use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, online banking, do online shopping, pay bills online, or log into any site where your personal information is stored – and you use a simple dictionary word password, or your birthday, or your name, or (Heaven forbid) 12345 or password as your password; and/or you use the same password for more than one account — you’re aching to be fodder for hackers. You know that don’t you?

Do you think hackers are super computer geeks who have mysterious powers that allow them to view things on your computer and steal you blind? No. They’re just plain old common criminals looking for an easy buck. And your simple weak password is all that stands between you and a lucky criminal. You don’t want to make some loathsome criminal happy do you? Don’t be a victim. Shore up those weak passwords right now. If you are one of the millions who use the same password for everything — you’re going to be a victim. If you use the same WEAK password for everything — you’re going to be victim very soon.

LISTEN UP!

We’re going to drum this into you until you listen to us. We’re only trying to keep you safe!

This is the age of the cloud. You cannot use the same password for everything anymore.
This is the age of the cloud. You cannot use the same password for everything anymore.
This is the age of the cloud. You cannot use the same password for everything anymore.
This is the age of the cloud. You cannot use the same password for everything anymore.
This is the age of the cloud. You cannot use the same password for everything anymore.

That’s five times. Keep reminding yourself of that. And the next time you sign-up for a cloud-based application or a membership site, or Facelessbook or any thing you have to enter a password and username to use, don’t use 12345 or David61 or mollyispretty, or your birthday or your phone number as your password. And, remember: This is the age of the cloud. You cannot use the same password for everything anymore.

It’s time to get serious about passwords. Honestly, if you don’t get serious about your safety and privacy in the cloud, someone else will and you won’t be a happy camper. Identity theft and cyber-crime are major problems now; just wait until the cloud gets cookin’. Security starts with you. Actually it starts with “s” but it should start with you. You’re the one who’s using the same password for everything. You know you are. It’s easy to remember, you don’t have to write it down, and you can login quickly and easily. Oh, that’s right, you’re the one who using Internet Explorer to save that password you use for every site – so you don’t even have to type in mary051852 in every time. That’s even worse you know. If you use your browser to store you passwords guess who else can use your passwords? That’s right! Anyone who uses your computer. Including your children and grandchildren. Do you want them to know how much you don’t have in the bank? That you’re living on cash advances from those 16 credit card accounts you’re juggling and accessing them all with the same password?

Yes, it’s high time to get a password generator or use one of the Web-based ones that abound. A simple password generator can generate unlimited random passwords for you, save them to a text file, where you can keep them safe somewhere. Maybe you’d want to type in next to each one what they are for. This isn’t the best case scenario, but it’s better than using william40851 as your password. At least only you’ll know where the file is stored and where to look when you need it. Oh, yes, don’t store this file in My Documents or on your desktop, OK?

A simple, free, password generator and more, from PC Tools – PC Tools Password Utilities

“The PC Tools Password Utilities includes useful features to make creating and managing passwords much simpler. Included are three main features:

  • Password Generator – is an offline version of the web-based Password Generator which allows you to securely and easily create passwords locally on your own PC.
  • Password Checker – a new feature that lets you check the quality and strength of a password. By entering your password in the checker it will run a series of tests on the password to indicate how strong it is, and therefore how easy it may be to guess or crack.
  • Password Revealer – works with Internet Explorer to reveal saved password that you have entered in web-forms but may have subsequently forgotten or lost. Simply bring up the hidden password in Internet Explorer, highlight it, and Password Revealer will tell you the saved password.”

Download Password Utilities for 32bit and 64bit Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. 363KB

A simple, free, online strong password generator

Nothing to download, just a page to bookmark or add to your favorites. Whenever you need to generate a password, just visit this page. Can’t make it any simpler. Click here to generate strong, muscular passwords to replace your scrawny, weak ones, before the cyber-bullies kick sand in your face and dip into your cookie jar.

LastPass

LastPass is a password manager that includes a password generator. LastPass is free and it is also good. It can generate very strong passwords for you – and it can remember them for you too. It’s sure worth a look! You can get more information about Lastpass here.

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