ENSURE ADEQUATE SECURITY OF YOUR PASSWORDS

The rate of cyber crimes in our society today is increasingly alarming. Just as technology has offered us better and faster means of internet dealings, so have some group of persons succeeded in upgrading their defrauding techniques. As a matter of fact, cyber crimes have taken multiple dimensions.

Initially one would think that information saved online is secured forever, based on the fact that they cannot be lost; and can be retrieved anytime, anywhere in the case of loss, damage or virus attack. Again they can be sourced from anywhere even when not with your original device. But on the contrary and quite worrisome, ICT and cyber security experts have recently began to advice otherwise; that all vital information be saved offline in order to avoid being tampered with by hackers.

There is an Igbo adage which says: Filling a cup to the brim is a case while not filling it might mean an insult. Documents and information kept offline are prone to virus attack, system crash and can even be stolen - leading to a permanent loss. Yet, saving them online might mean exposure to hackers all over the world. So which way forward? Therefore, the safety of our information, both online and offline, are now cases of probability.

Be that as it may, a lot of information are already online by the terms of their usage. We operate a good number of online accounts such as email, social media platforms, and most importantly, internet banking. Coincidentally, these are the major interests of the numerous hackers. Thus we are already their targets; and so must endeavour to stay safe, secure and avert the danger of braking into our bank accounts or social media platforms, using it to defraud others on our behalf.

Password is the first line of defense against any cyber crimes. The tactics employed by these cyber criminals are generally geared towards getting hold of our passwords. Although there may be a few other means by which they can achieve this ugly aim, the easiest way their victims fall prey is by indirectly revealing their passwords or keeping them unsafe for the criminals to guess. Consider the fact that whenever a thief brakes into your house, he will first search your draw, wardrobe; raise your pillow, mattress, carpet, rug. So also have the cyber criminals got their first guess when they want to hack. And it's very unfortunate that a lot of persons do not pay closer attention to the security of their passwords.

COMMON PRACTICES THAT MAKE US VULNERABLE TO HACKERS

• Many people like easy passwords. Some use simple words like favour, blessing, password, etc as passwords; or simple digits like 1234, 2222, 7777, etc as ATM PIN
• Many people use their phone number as passwords
• Many also use their nickname or business name as passwords
• Many also consider their year of birth as ATM PIN
• Many people, especially women use the name of their son, daughter or husband as passwords
• So many people also use one password for numerous accounts

TIPS ON HOW TO STAY SAFE AND SECURE ONLINE

• Do not use any of your public information as password. These include phone number, name, nickname, business name, name of son/daughter/husband/wife/school, etc. They are all the first guess of any hacker.
• Do not save your password on phone or any device. It should be memorized by you alone.
• If you must write down your passwords, let the note itself be as secured as the passwords.
• Do not use same password for various accounts. Surely this is very difficult considering the various accounts that we operate, but you can device a pattern to remembering all while maintaining their uniqueness. Using just one password is as much dangerous as using one key for all your rooms, shops, offices, cars. An access to one would automatically entail access to all.
• Make use of strong passwords with a mixture of upper and lower cases, numbers, and symbols
• As much as possible, do not use a pronounceable word/phrase as your password. In fact, very strong passwords should not contain any vowels.
• Do not share your passwords to anybody – even your husband/wife, relatives, best friend, pastor, etc. Be fast to imagine that their account may have been hacked or could be hacked some other time.
• Do not believe any story that is too good to be real even if it is coming from someone you ordinarily should trust such as your spouse, relative, friend, pastor, lecturer, boss, etc. Their accounts are also vulnerable to hackers.
• Do not reply to any suspicious mail or try to enter your vital information, even if you do not hit the ‘submit’ button.
• Do not click on any suspected link. They can generate virus attack that will break and expose your security details OR may simply be a cloned website intended to get your details.
• Do not believe that you have won or could win millions of dollars in a lottery you never subscribed.
• In the case of internet banking and online payments, be sure to use secure websites. Secure websites usually begin with https:// where ‘s’ means secured. You will also see the symbol of a padlock. All these indicate that the site is encrypted.
• Remember to sign out after using a public computer.
• Keep your browser and applications up-to-date. Old versions may be susceptible to virus attack and the activities of hackers.
• The security of your passwords begins with limiting the access to your personal devices. You can make use of screen lock.
• Critically analyse any link telling you to enter your details. They have began to clone sites like yahoo, gmail, facebook, and even bank websites. You may think you are logging in while you are simply giving out your details. Always take a closer look on the address bar to be sure you are logging in to the intended website, not a cloned one.
• Very importantly, you can dedicate a particular email address for your online banking only, and never give it out for any purpose or even write it down any where. Don't even use it to send mail to any of your other address let alone to another person!

HOW TO GENERATE SECURE PASSWORDS
There are a thousand ways of having very strong passwords, which cannot be guessed by anybody. You can decide to use a particular phrase or statement to remember your unique passwords. For instance, you can memorize a statement like the one below and use it to generate a password as you may desire, and only you will know it whenever you want to key it in. Example: “I wish to keep my gmail safe and secure.”
The following passwords could be generated from the statement above, which can only be interpreted by you.
Iw2kmgS&S; Iw2kmgS/Secure; Iw-2-kmgSafe; etc
As you can see, none of the above is a pronounceable word. They can only be
memorized by the owner alone! That's just one method. Device your own means.

CONCLUSION
Nothing is as painful as falling prey to these 419ners; and so we must ensure to stay safe from their evil acts. Keep your passwords safe, strong, long, and impossible to guess. Make all necessary analysis before believing any information received online, no matter from whom it‘s coming from. And indeed you must realise that nobody has ever won or will ever win millions of dollars, legitimately, from an unsubscribed lottery as you may be promised by these unrepentant fraudsters. Kindly be warned! Many have been revealing their passwords to hackers unkowingly, just that they don't have much money in their banking transactions yet as to become their real target.