While it may be a practical thing to do, with the mishmash of information all over the world wide web and with most sites requiring its users to create an account, the above-described individuals make themselves vulnerable and an easy target for hackers and stalkers.
According to John Doe, a self-confessed hacker who stalks the object of his desire, the typical passwords used by many are: their names or variations of it, important dates and places, significant others, qwerty, 123456, and the like.
If you fit into the above-mentioned description, it may serve your interests well if you make the necessary changes to your password. Safeguard the door to your virtual world. After all, your account may be used by scoundrels to send spam messages or seek the financial assistance of your contacts or worse, (dark) secrets of yours stored online may be unearthed from your accounts and news about it be spread like wildfire.
A few tips from Time Magazine Online on how to strengthen that password of yours:
1. The longer the better. Six characters? No. Eight? Meh. Twelve? Yes.
2. Use a combination of uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols.
3. Deliberately misspell a word.
4. Create a different password for each site.
5. Incorporate cryptic language from a device you always have with you. (eg. serial number of your phone)
Oh, the joys (for stalkers and hackers) and woes (for the victims) of the Internet!
You can watch video here: http://techland.time.com/2011/06/29/two-minute-video-how-to-create-strong-online-passwords/
Image from here: http://hacknmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/3238029478_aa1df44c981.jpg
Entry # 2 by Diana Margaret C. Lauron
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