Hack Proof Passwords: The First Line of Defense Against Identity Theft

Today, consumers engage in a wide host of transactions online. We pay bills, make purchases, do our banking, file taxes, and many other actions that utilize our personal information such as credit card accounts, banking information, and even our social security number on occasion. We provide our personal information to a large number of businesses, organizations and institutions—they in turn keep that information safe via a secure database and safety protocols that require us to utilize a username and password to enter the site and access our information or account.

Many scammers today are proficient in gaining access tothat information however, despite security, as they often rely on user's not creating a hack proof password. In fact, figuring out a consumer's password is one of the easiest ways for a scammer to access information. It is for this reason that it would be to your benefit to learn how to create a hack proof password, as well as learn other tips to prevent ID fraud.

How to Create a Hack Proof Password

Creating a hack proof password is a relatively easy thing to do, but the first thing you should keep in mind is to create a different password for each site you have an account on. While this might seem like an annoying hardship, it is an important tip to prevent ID fraud, as a scammer that manages to get your password could potentially gain access to all your accounts if you use the same password for them. So therefore, in addition to creating different hack proof passwords, you must also figure out a way to keep them in a place where you can access them so you don't forget them, but where they are also kept safe and secure from scammers.

There is software that can help you do this, keeping track of all your passwords for various websites, but it may be better just to keep them on a slip of paper in a drawer in your home that no one else can access.

Once you've decided on how to keep your hack proof passwords safe, you can begin to create them. Many people use dates, pet's names, children's names, or hobbies, among other words that can be easily tried by scammers using sophisticated software. These types of passwords aren't very safe at all.

• To create your hack proof password, first think of a phrase, such as "The Quick Brown Fox Jumped over the Lazy Dog."
• Then use the first letter of each word in the phrase to develop your hack proof password: TQBFJOTLD. You can see that it would be much harder for any scammer to easily discover this password, helping to prevent identity theft via online breaches.
• Some sites require you to use a number or other special characters as part of your password, so if you can think of a phrase that also incorporates numbers and something like a question mark or exclamation point that will enable you to better develop your hack proof password.
• To help you remember which password is for which site, and add a special character at the same time, you can use the password you came up with, and then, supposing it is for EBay, you can add "@EBY", making your password TQBFJOTLD@EBY.
• Try to keep your password at least 8 characters long; the longer it is, the harder it is to hack. Adding numbers and special characters also increases the difficulty for hackers. Using capital letters occasionally also makes an extremely tough hack proof password.

Additional Tips to Prevent ID Fraud

In addition to creating a hack proof password, there are other tips to prevent ID fraud you should practice regularly. Many of these are just common sense: don't give out your personal information, passwords, or credit card numbers to anyone, and make sure that any documents containing this information aren’t left lying around for anyone to see. That includes the trash, where, believe it or not, many scammers manage to acquire personal information. Make sure to shred all documents with personal information before tossing them in the trash.

Additionally, you can get a regular credit monitor service that can let you know of any suspicious activity with any of your personal and financial information. A regular credit monitor service is also useful for letting you know how certain actions may affect your credit score.

Amy Johnson is an active blogger who is fond of writing articles on identity theft and helping people to protect against identity theft. Follow her on Twitter to know more onhow to create a Hack-Proof Password.