Privacy and Passwords: Protect Yourself in the Internet Age

Nowadays, you need a password for just about everything. Your bank and credit card accounts all require a Personal Identification Number (PIN); most subscriber internet sites require passwords to log in; your email requires a password; your computer or your network may require a password; popular computer programs and sites require passwords (eBay, PayPal, etc); and just about any place that offers you an ‘account’ of any sort requires a password to log on.

As the internet becomes more of the standard for doing business, technology increases, and so do the hackers and nefarious sorts who try to break into accounts that have financial information. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ‘crack’ a password and log on to your account in your name, without your knowledge.

For example, Associated Content provides payment for articles through PayPal. If someone where able to break into AC’s member’s accounts, it would be easy to redirect payments to another PayPal Account. While that would probably be easy enough to trace, consider someone breaking into the actual PayPal account itself. Or perhaps eBay. Or maybe even your online banking account.

As many of you read this, you will be thinking, “That would never happen to me!” You may be right, but how much is it worth to you to find out that you may be wrong?

Most of us are aware of a technique known as ‘phishing’. Yet, though many of us are aware of it and will say that you understand what this means, every time a phishing email for PayPal or eBay or a large bank is emailed out, several hundreds and sometimes even thousands of consumers still click on those links in the email and provide the spammers/hackers with their log in information. A few seconds is all it takes to drain an account of funds.