This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LifeLock Facebook for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
The wild, wild, web can be a dangerous place. I consider myself pretty tech savvy most of the time – But even I have to be super careful online each day. Hackers and sneaky-sneaks get smarter every day – every time you learn a new tip to keep your information and identity safe online, it seems like they learn a new way to steal it from you again. But, there are some basic steps you can take to keep yourself safe. And there is a site that’s kind of like an online superhero, working tirelessly to swoop in and save the day if you get into any type of trouble. Keep reading to learn more…
Are you safe from hackers?
Many of you might remember when my blog got hacked earlier this year. It was a DISASTER. It took a full week to get things all straightened out… I lost a week or revenue from my site, missed a ton of deadlines, and spent countless hours emailing and making phone calls, trying to find a solution to the mess. I’ve also had my PayPal account hacked into, and my email and Facebook have both suffered from mini-security lapses. I learned quickly that passwords are something not to be taken lightly! You never want to use things like 1234567, or ABC123, and please, oh please, do NOT tell me that any of you are still using “Password” as any of your passwords?? Do you know how fast a professional hacker can breach your password security?
- If you have 6 characters in your password with no symbol, it only takes a pro hacker .000224 seconds.
- If you have 10 characters and one symbol in your password, it takes up to 20 days for a pro to break in and steal your info.
What a HUGE difference that small change brings, right? So make sure to make things as safe as possible – use a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. To make it easier to remember, pick a word like “elephant.” But change the letters to numbers or symbols, so you have something like “El3ph@nt!” – much harder for someone to figure out. Learn more: How hack friendly is your password?
What you can do to stay safe online
Besides using better passwords, the best piece of advice is just to be smart – If a link looks suspicious, don’t click it. If you get an email that feels a little weird – do some research. Example: I’m pretty sure that my PayPal was hacked due to me clicking on a link in a fake PayPal email. It seriously looked amazingly real – but said that someone had returned a credit from a purchase to my account, click here for more info. That sounded odd, and I wanted to see what it was… Then gave my password to the fake PayPal site. Ugh. Instead – if something looks a little off, just type the website {like PayPal, or your bank} into your browser to visit it, so you can be sure. Another great way to keep yourself safe – especially when you’re a crazy-busy super-mom like me, is to use a site like LifeLock. Here are a few of the services you get on their basic plan – you can upgrade to get even more help!
- Alerts of potential threats–both credit and noncredit related
- Online access to a personalized dashboard showing current threats
- Relentless identity monitoring for exposure of your personal information
- Member services with local phone support—24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
- Stolen or lost wallet remediation services to help cancel and replace credit and debit cards
- Comprehensive recovery services if you become a victim of identity theft on our watch
Awesome, right? It’s like having a super cool super hero watching over your shoulder, protecting you from the bad guys of the web. You can learn more on their website – LifeLock.com, or check out LifeLock on Facebook to see what other real moms like you have to say about the service.
Let’s Chat: Have you ever been the victim of identity theft or hackers?
Thanks for the article. We all need to be more proactive about our personal account security. One thing I would be stressed more is taking advantage of the 2FA (2-Factor Authentication). Although it’s been around for a while, not enough sites are offering and promoting this option. 2-Factor Authentication for me wins every day. I feel suspicious when I am not asked to telesign into my account by way of 2FA, it just feels as if they are not offering my sites enough protection. I know some will claim this make things more complicated, but the slight inconvenience each time you log in is worth the confidence of knowing your info is secure. This should be a prerequisite to any system that wants to promote itself as being secure.