How to stop hackers from guessing your passwords


God bless computers, right?! They’ve made our lives so much easier, and they’ve allowed us to do things we would never have been able to do in the past. There are so many important things that we use computers for on a daily basis, in both our private and professional lives. As such, it’s important that we look at ways of protecting our computers, and the data on them.

One of the problems with the digital world and the technological takeover we’re facing is that sensitive information is more vulnerable. Because everything is kept on computers nowadays, once someone is on your system they can access all your private info. And, hackers are a real risk to those using computers, so it’s important to be sensible and look at the best ways of protecting your passwords from hackers.

Don’t make them obvious

You’d be surprised by how many people still fall into the trap of making their passwords too obvious. Hackers are incredibly skilled at their jobs and have hacked thousands of accounts in the past, so they have plenty of knowledge of the kinds of things people use for their passwords. Don’t make it anything really obvious, like your date of birth, or your pet’s name. There are a lot of things you could use, so try to choose something you won’t forget, but that isn’t obvious either. A combination of letters, symbols, and numbers is definitely the way forward if you want something secure.

Change them every few months

Another way of allowing hackers the chance to get into your accounts and hack your passwords is to keep the same password for far too long. This is one of the things that many people fall foul of, and they don’t think it’s an issue. And, yes, it may well never be an issue, but you also might find that it is a problem. So, the best approach is to be as safe as possible and make sure you change or at least update, your passwords every few months.

Ignore spam

One of the ways hackers have started duping people into giving up their details is via spam. You know the sort – those emails from your bank, or Hotmail, or PayPal telling you that you need to sign in for account verification. The emails look legit, and they ask you for your login details. Ignore them. These are almost always a scam and designed as a way of duping unsuspecting people into giving up their passwords. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book for hackers, so just ignore it. If this is a legitimate thing, most of the time you will receive a letter or a phone call anyway, so don’t worry.

Belt and braces

Something else we would recommend when trying to protect your personal detail from falling into the wrong hands is to use what’s known as two-factor authentication. This is where you are sent a unique code that must be used to sign into an account if it isn’t done on your regular device. It’s important that you do as much as possible to use this method if it’s offered. This is the best way of protecting yourself long term. Keeping your passwords safe from hackers means that you look after and protect your data as much as possible.

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