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Tiscali Members: Protect your password

Protect your password

Passwords are used for almost every tool you use online. The reason companies ask you to create a password is so that they can store information against your username, such as your account numbers, billing details, email and address amongst other details. Many websites also store information such as purchase history, wish lists, and what you've clicked on in the past. Much of this particular type of information is collected to make your next visit easier; to save you supplying the information again.

However, you must always be aware of what information is being collected from you and do your best to make it secure so that hackers cannot access your most personal details. Here are some tips to get you started when it comes to protecting your password online.

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Never use the name of a person, place or thing - even if you think it's impossible for hackers to guess. Hackers will use specialised software to trawl millions of names in the hope of striking lucky. And don't think you're safe if you spell it backwards either.

Try to make your password as random as possible using a combination of letters, numbers and symbols. If you find this hard to remember try some simple word games to help. For example if you had a fry-up on Saturday then your password could be i8x&bacon (I ate eggs and bacon).

Never use consecutive numbers, letters or even keys that are beside each other on your keyboard e.g. qwerty.

In an ideal world you'd have a strong password for every website you visit but this can sometimes cause even more problems if you forget an important one. For your most important websites that deal with internet banking, ISPs and more make separate passwords for each. Try and change those particular passwords every few months to keep them really secure. Then use a simple, easy-to-remember password for those websites that you don't buy anything from or store important information on.

Finally - your golden rule to remember is never give out your password details to anyone - not even friends and family. And only use the 'remember my password' function if it's secure. Try the Tiscali password reminder service.