How can I protect my password(s)?
The best way to protect a password and your privacy is to have multiple passwords, thus making it more complicated for thieves and computer hackers to access your account. For example, if you use a password to log on to your network or computer, use a different password for placing orders online. You may also want to create a special password for particularly sensitive webpages, such as your home-banking site. (Of course, the more passwords you have the more likely you are to have to write them down--in which case, it may be better to use one password that you can remember, and maintain its confidentiality.)
Other password protection principles:
While you should try to use easily remembered passwords, you should not use easily guessed passwords, such as your birth date or children's names.
Do not write down any password near your computer where someone could see it. If you do record it somewhere, either encrypt it via a software vault or lock it. If you don't do that, at the very lease scramble the order of the characters. That way, someone finding it won't have discovered your true password.
You should never respond to an e-mail, phone call, fax, or letter from anyone who asks for your password(s), Social Security number, birth date, bank account, credit card number, mother's maiden name, or other personal information. To verify that the person contacting you really does work for the seller, call the company and request to speak to that person directly. Except for your password, credit card number, and the billing address for your credit card, you should never have to give any personal information to place an order online.
You should only give your password and credit card number in a secure connection on a website, not in an ordinary e-mail. Ordinary e-mail is not encrypted. Identity theft, in which someone gets access to your bank account or gets credit cards or loans in your name, is one of the fastest-growing crimes.
Copyright © 2004 American Bar Association