The world wide web is a must-have in the lives of most individuals. I know for me, being currently without Internet due to a digging incident by the neighbors, it is a must-have for business and personal reasons. I don’t have a phone book (my kids don’t even know what one is) so if I need a number for, say, the pizza delivery guy, I take to my computer. If I need directions, I MapQuest the address.
However, with the “at your tips” access comes added dangers. The news and Internet is full of stories of big companies like Target and ADP getting hacked, of people stealing identities, or of people being able to locate you because you posted a photo.
Discover has a newly enhanced Security Center, full of tips to keep yourself safer when it comes to your personal finances. One tip that you hear about often is to not only make unique passwords, but to not use the same password for everything. Of course, this is easier said than done. A co-worker explained to me why this is so important, and since then I have made it a must to really examine the effectiveness of all my passwords.
For example, recently I received an email from Adobe about user information being compromised. I thought, “No big deal, I’ve never shopped through Adobe. What does it hurt for someone to have my username and password?” What will happen is those that “steal” this information will feed a computer with your username and password and run it through online accounts for banks and financial institutions to see if they can get a hit. For this reason, I DO NOT use the same password for my bank login or anything financial, as I do everything else.
You also want to make sure your credit cards have unique logins as well. If someone is able to get this login information, they could have a pretty good shopping spree with your account. Discover has a great Password Strength Indicator that can test out your password to tell you how strong it is.
Some of the great benefits of owning a Discover card are:
- They monitor for unusual activity on every Discover card,
every day - You’re never responsible for unauthorized chargeson your Discover card account with Discover’s $0 Fraud Liability Guarantee
- Stay in the know with account alerts via email, phone or text
Whether you have a Discover card or not, I strongly urge you to check out their Security Center for some great tips to keep you safe no matter what you use or where you shop.
I am a paid brand Blogger for Discover Products Inc. My views are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Discover Products Inc. and its affiliates.
Kelsey Apley says
I use diffferent passwords for different sites. I am always worried it will get hacked cause you see so much of it nowadays!!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
That’s pretty scary what they can do with just one password. I used to have the same for many, but I’ve changed my tune on that as well.
Raijean says
Never thought about this! Thanks for the tips
Rhiannon Rowland says
Our bank makes us change our password several times a year and you cannot use the same password the next three new passwords….gets hard to think of things, but that is a good thing. All my important stuff have really hard passwords.
nicole dz says
I never have the same passwords, I use robofrom to save my passwords, but I also have them in a small book I keep hidden in my house, cuz sometimes I forget. you never want someone to have access to your info, so keep it secure.