Computer Security: Personal Information & Passwords
What information is safe for me to give when a website requires registration?
In terms of information that you provide for a website whether it's for registration, purchase or whatever, has to be evaluated based on who the company is or website you are providing this information for. If it's a well known brand, bank, store or some very legitimate company chances are you're probably fine providing whatever information it is they ask for. It's being encrypted and their privacy policy does not allow them to share that information with anyone else.If it's an unknown entity and you're giving out or are being asked to give out information such as your social security number, credit card number, phone numbers or addresses I would think twice about doing so. That could lead to identity theft, false charges, problems with your credit and a lot of things that you probably don't want to happen.
How do I choose a secure password?
There are several ways to choose a secure password. One is to have some kind of application just randomly create one for you. There are many of these on the internet where you can just tell it how many digits you need and it just randomly generates them. You can also do this on your own; you can just randomly generate a series of numbers and letters. What you want to avoid however is creating a password or security code that is so closely related to you that it would be very easy for somebody to figure out what it might be; birthdays, anniversaries, these are very popular types of passwords. In creating a password that is going to provide the most security for you, you really want to mix up the alphanumeric characters; you want to have a combination of numbers and a combination of letters. You also want to have a combination of uppercase letters and a combination of lowercase letters. This increases the security or I should say decreases the chance that somebody is going to be able to figure out what it is, especially if those numbers and letters have no meaning to you personally.
How can I safely store my passwords in case I forget them?
In terms of safely storing your passwords, you have a couple of options. Believe it or not, there's software that's made that allows you to store your passwords in an encrypted database. So, by using yet another password, you have access to all your passwords. Another way to do it, since a lot of these passwords that we're talking about have to do with on-line passwords, is to put them on a sheet of paper and put them somewhere that's not related in any way, shape, or form to a computer, so you can access them. Another thing that people do is they tend to use the same password for the same types of things. You might have a password that you use for anything that's financial; you might have a password that you use for anything that's for fun or entertainment. That way you don't have to remember so many passwords. I advise people to try to limit the number of passwords that they use, because you'll find yourself forgetting passwords, not being able to find them, having to retrieve passwords, making requests of passwords, and spending a lot of your time trying to get your password back. Come up with something that really works and maybe use that password for most of the things that you use.
Is it safe to send personal information in an email?
Sending personal information, or credit information, in an email, is more or less safe, but there are certainly precautions that you can take. If you are going to send, for instance, credit card information, split it up into two or three different emails. Don't send all of the information in one email. Send most of the credit card number in the first mail, the balance of that number and part of the expiration date in the second email, and the balance of the expiration date and the security code in the third email. Chances are when it's split up like that there are too many messages being sent at any given second of the day, for anyone to capture any of that information. Again you ought to evaluate the source. Who are you sending this to?
Is it safe to manage my banking online?
As far as online banking, any legitimate bank provides an absolutely safe environment, to do your banking. There are federal standards that online banks have to adhere to, and they tend to incorporate the highest levels of encryption and security, so as long as it's a legitimate, federally insured bank, chances are it's a very safe environment for you to do your online banking, and provide information.
