i won’t make this a long post, but i wanted to give some advice to all ybp’ers who shop, check bank statements, check credit cards, and run their life online….passwords.

just a few helpful tips and tricks:

1. don’t make your primary bank password the same as ANY OTHER ACCOUNT…even a credit card account
2. if you don’t have a good memory, vary your passwords with a symbols or simple number combinations at the beginning and/or end (ex. gmail password: ‘google’, bank password ‘$google123′). adding that little dollar sign and a number helps a lot!
3. keep your email passwords dissimilar to any other accounts with money (i.e. don’t make your gmail similar to you’re discover card account)
4. never click a link from your email to your bank or credit card account. always go directly to the website and login.
5. no legitimate company will ask you for your password…in an email, phone message, or IM. don’t give it out. this is especially true in relationships, but more on that later…
6. always look for the ‘https://’ at the beginning of a site when you’re logging in. this at least creates a secure connection between your computer and the site you’re looking at. remember, when you’re looking at website, it passes through at least 3-6 different servers before both parties receive the message. plenty of room for hackers.

happy surfing!