Passwords

It’s always good practice to not use the same passwords on multiple web pages and to try and make the passwords as difficult to guess as you can. This may not be as easy as it sounds - since passwords are used for just about everything nowadays and it’s very hard to remember every single one of them.

To keep some sanity, sometimes we reuse the same passwords and hope that nothing bad happens. Websites can get breached and when that happens a client’s information is at risk and could be stolen. Sometimes clients are not always notified when this happens.

Not to worry! There are ways to protect your information!

Below is a link to a helpful resource, on this site you can type in your email address and/or password to find out if pieces of your information have been found in breaches that have been publicized or in files that were stolen.

Check out https://haveibeenpwned.com/ .

On the site you can sign up for notifications so that if your data is found in the future, you can be notified by an automated service and you can change your password.

You can also find password managers online - here is a PC Magazine article about just a few of the multiple programs that can handle this task for you https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407168,00.asp

• use two factor authentication whenever possible to login to our credit cards, bank accounts and email sites. Find out more here.

• backup our files.

• use antivirus programs.

• be careful when opening attachments.

Stay sane, stay safe.