3 Tips to Stop Hackers

Recently we blogged in our sister blog about hackers attacking WordPress. Be sure you read it!

As we were writing it, several ideas came to mind about how to be safer online. It’s always good for a refresher course. Hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated. We need to be smarter!

Here 3 Tips to Playing Safe online:

1. Reset passwords regularly.We’ve all seen the listings of what the most common passwords are. Why is it that we all think these are “safe” if everyone is using them?!?:
   • 123456
   • 12345
   • 123456789
   • Password
   • iloveyou

   Hackers try these passwords and the other common ones. We need to thank the makers of these lists for doing all the work for the hackers. Make sure to not use them and you stop hackers.

2. Don’t reuse passwords. It’s tempting, but hackers who “discover” your password, will simply try it in a variety of other websites. Get a password manager and have it remember your passwords. I just checked mine and there are 488 passwords/sites.
3. Don’t use words. The hacking software starts with words because most people remember words easier; so most people tend to start there. Instead, here’s a tip: Use a Bible verse. Try to have a number and the name of God in it. Then simply use the first letter of the words in order — it ensures that you use something you can remember, upper and lowercase, and random letters. (i.e. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son = 4GsltwtHgHoS) Each time you post the password, you will be silently quoting scripture — that can’t be a bad thing! To change it for every different site, you can use a shorter verse (or portion) and add the first 3 letters of the URL (i.e. For Google.com; goo4Gsltw). You get the drift.

Do these 3 tips and you’ll be several steps ahead of the criminals. Be careful out there… it a crazy world!