If your username for your online banking account is the same as your Xbox Live handle and your password is literally “password”, you’re opening yourself up to attack. What’s more, if you’re relying on the same password for multiple accounts, you’re creating multiple points of failure for a hacker to exploit. Thankfully, we’ve produced articles […]

Informed Delivery is a USPS service that provides an email digest containing scanned images of incoming mail, along with options for managing delivery. Some scammers have exploited it by signing up with carefully targeted addresses and then intercepting the recipients’ mail. Consider enrolling and protecting your account with a strong password to avoid this possibility.

Chances are you use at least one device that runs either iOS or Android. To protect your data and identity, set up two-factor authentication so that every login attempt requires an additional credential on top of your username and password. This might be a text message code or an approval from another trusted device.

Default options on certain websites may be chosen for convenience, not for security. For example, avoid allowing a website to remember your password. If your password is stored, your profile and any account information you have provided on that site is readily available if an attacker gains access to your computer. Also, evaluate your settings […]

Some websites and applications allow or even require special characters – like < and ! – in passwords. If you have the option to include them, do so, since their presence makes the password more difficult to guess than if it only contained alphanumerics.

It’s fully possible to create your own strong passwords, i.e. ones based on phrases, but it’s often more trouble than it’s worth. Many password managers, including ones built into OSes like Apple iOS, can take care of password generation, storage, organization and retrieval for you.