Want to be savvy and play smart against those hack-happy nerds?
Give yourself the best chance to protect your data by following these seemingly easy, but real effective good practices.
•Read the accompanying product data sheet to understand what features are available.
•Passwords are the most important layer of protection you have. If anyone can guess your passwords, they can get to your information. So follow the below guide to stay protected.
•Don’t use any passwords that you have used before.
•Select a password that is easy for you to remember but hard for anyone to guess. Don’t forget your password.
•Consider using the initials of a song or phrase that you can easily remember, but others are unlikely to guess
•Do not use your first, middle or last name in any form
•Do not use other information easily obtained about you. This includes your birth date, license plate numbers, telephone numbers, the brand of your car, the name of the street you live on, your family member’s names etc.
•When setting any password, use Uppercase Letters (A,B,C) , Lowercase Letters (a,b,c) , Numerals (1,2,3) and Symbols (*$%@™£). The length of the password should be at least 9. For example, if I were to assign a secure password it would be something like F^i0na&5hr3K!
•Don’t disclose your passwords to anyone.
•If you are about to type your password and someone is near you, take care that they cannot see what you type.
•Change your passwords every 3 months
•Do not write your password down unless it is absolutely necessary. (If you must write it down, store it in a private and physically secure location separate from your account name). And don’t save them on your hard drive. It is not uncommon for people to have a Word or WordPerfect file with all their passwords in it. But this file is dead easy for others to find—especially if it’s called password.doc or otherwise contains the word “password”
•Check the strength of your passwords at the How Secure Is My Password site
•Always use fully licensed Anti Virus software on your regular PC to avoid infection of your files and prevent key logging software from spying on what you type.
•Always remove your USB drive after you have finished using it.
•Use a virtual keyboard where available. Virtual Keyboards are usually used to click the words that you want to type instead of using the keyboard.
•Backup your data on the secure USB drive onto another secure drive.
•Don’t let Windows cache/remember your passwords.
