Simple Web Security

It happened to Jeff Atwood’s Stack Overflow account: Someone broke into his account and logged in as him.  Fortunately, the hacker reported the problem to Jeff and did no malicous actions.  Very few “hackers” are this ethical.

Read the original post here, I Just Logged In As You: How It Happened.  It shows just how easy it can be to crack a password.

Simple Security Tip #1: Use strong passwords with lots of characters, numbers, and symbols.

Simple Security Tip #2: Don’t use the same password for every account you have.

Simple Security Tip #3: Use two-factor authentication whenever possible. This makes it exetremely difficult for someone to break into your account.

Because it’s too hard.

Most of the time, anyway.  And for good reason – there’s a LOT of things to think about.  In fact, there are probably lots of things you’re doing wrong right now when it comes to securing your computer, e-mail, data, mobile phone, bank account, credit card info…the list goes on.

So how do we bring sense and simplicity to an online world filled with so much complexity?  Start with the simple things:

• Don’t share your passwords
• Don’t believe e-mails that ask for personal information (these phishing attempts)
• Don’t install apps you don’t need, or from sites you don’t trust
• Install good anti-virus software

If we protect ourselves from just the simple things, then we have a much smaller chance of being the next victim of opportunity of a casual hacker.  And, if everyone would better educate themselves, then malware and other online security problems would be a lot less prevalent.

Do you agree?  What do you do to stay safe online?  Let me know in the comments.