Nothing is scarier online than getting a message that you’ve been hacked, and your personal online accounts have been compromised. The biggest culprit after phishing scams is weak passwords. (Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.)
McCoy Federal Credit Union has prepared a few Dos and Don’ts of creating passwords to provide you extra protection online.
Do: Use a password manager
A password manager, like "1password", will remember all your passwords. You’ll only need to create and remember one master password.
Don't: let your devices remember passwords
Keep it where it’s safe from hackers - inside your head!
Do: Make it long
It’s best if your password is at least 12 characters long.
Don't: use common passwords
Avoid any variation of these commonly used — and commonly hacked — passwords:
- 123456123456789
- Passwordadmin
- 12345678qwerty
- 1234567111111
Do: mix it up
Vary capitalization and types of characters used, switching back and forth from letters to numbers to symbols.
Do: report it
And, of course, if you think your McCoy Federal Credit Union account has been compromised, DO contact us right away.
