Is Your Online Presence Secure? – 10 Password Security Tips

The following are password security tips I have formulated in order to inform all of you what you can do to protect your online presence. Implementing these ten easy steps will ensure you are doing all you can to protect your online gambling accounts.

1.       Always maintain up-to-date anti-virus protection software.
Never go without this or all of your following efforts could prove worthless. With the proliferation of keyloggers and Trojans, there is no way you can afford to be lax here. Set up your anti-virus software to auto update, and you should never have to worry. Nowadays, most internet providers provide anti-virus software for free so there is no excuse. If they do not provide free software, get some! Be sure to read the end of the article to get some quick insight into some of the anti-virus software available.

2.       Always use a different password for every site.
The most important rule of them all. If you don’t do this, then a hacker can get into any of your accounts they choose to wreak havoc.

3.       Use randomly generated passwords.
The more random the better off you will be. You should never use common names or birth dates as passwords, keep them completely random. Yes, each and every password should be unique unless you truly do not care. Don’t come crying to me when your internet presence is a mess.

4.       Use a combination of numbers, lower and upper case characters at minimum.
Why? Because the more variety you use in your passwords the less likely they will be able to be hacked. Every new character you introduce to your password, the character set required for a hacker to crack your password becomes that much larger. There are 10 numbers, 26 lowercase characters, and 26 upper-case characters. Using just numbers seriously limits the breadth of characters needing testing.

5.       Use special characters; if possible. (#,?, ~, etc.)
By using one or more of these characters you have just dramatically increased the variations of passwords available and in return you have increased the work for password crackers. This option is sometimes limited, based on the site requiring the password, so this option might not be available. If it is, you better use it.

6.       Maximize the allowable length of the password.
Use as many characters as possible when formulating your passwords. Every new character introduced to your password, once again, increases its security level.

7.       Use random password generators to aid in creating secure passwords.
Many of the password managers out there have the ability to randomly generate the password for you. You choose the character set the generator has to choose from and it goes to work. Review your password after creation to make sure it is up to the above standards. Remember, being that a generator is randomly generating the password from an overarching set of characters, there is always a potential that the returned password is not including all of the character sets you have specified. The password could potentially end up being all numbers, which is much weaker than a password containing a minimum of one character from each character set.

8.       Never use paper or unprotected text files to store passwords.
Utilize password managers to aid in protecting your data. Never use pieces of paper or unprotected files. Take note: Even Excel password protected documents can be easily hacked!

9.       Protect your password manager using a randomly generated password as your master password.
Using a password manager to protect your passwords is a great idea, but make sure that your master password is extremely tight. If someone cracks this password, it could be disastrous.

10.    Change your passwords at minimum once per year.
For some people this may be difficult depending on the number of passwords you have, but this will ensure a breach can be thwarted earlier. Changing passwords more frequently throughout the year is highly advisable for the sites you feel are the most important. Some sites for consideration in this category would be online banking, casino, sportsbook, or poker room accounts, credit cards, email accounts, password manager password etc.

11.    Repeat (Bonus Step!)
After you go through all the steps above, repeat them every time. Schedule maintenance. You are doing 10 times more than the average person does and protecting yourself better than expected. If one of your accounts gets hacked after this, I would bet there is something else in play other than the precautions you have taken and I would investigate with the place that was hacked.

Anti-Virus Software Quick Notes: