Protect your online account from hacking

Though the online services like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc are secured and they are taking care of protecting the users information from being hacked, there can be cases where people’s accounts are still hacked. Hackers can read the information from you through public computers by installing a software that reads all the keys entered by you and sends that to the hacker by some means as you are already connected to Internet.

Here are a few tips that can help you keep your account from being hacked:

Dos:

• While chatting through your account (no matter if) to your close friends, if any of your friends asks you for credit card information or any sensitive information through chat, make a call to confirm and provide the information on phone, if required.
• Keep your passwords strong. If possible keep them changing at a regular interval. You may change the passwords every 30, 45, 60 or 72 days.
• Sign out from each account that you have logged into before you leave the public computer.
• Check and log out from any messengers running in the system tray.
• Avoid copying to paste some sensitive information, no matter if you are doing this in an email itself. If the copied data remains copied (in the clipboard), it can be pasted by someone else using the machine after you.
• Try to keep away from cyber cafes to do some sensitive activities like managing your website, transferring money or doing any such activity on banking sites, shopping online, etc.

Don’ts:

• Don’t include your name or birth date in your passwords.
• Don’t leave the machine or close the windows without signing off from the account. In some cases, even if the window is closed, user is not signed out automatically.

Related Articles:

• Hacked gmail account case
• Tips on Creating Strong Passwords