Archives - Security Best Practice


Never use personal information in password hints

You may sometimes be asked to provide password hints on some of your accounts. These are small clues meant to jog your memory in case you forget your password. Generally, hints aren’t very safe to begin with and may be easily guessed, especially if you use personal information. Bad actors could connect the dots between […]

Avoid saving your payment information to a website or browser

Saving your payment information can be a great convenience. But data breaches, unfortunately, happen far too frequently. You never know when your information will be part of the next batch of accounts compromised. Take the extra measure and manually input your payment information when you make a purchase online, but don’t elect to save them.

Make your passwords longer, rather than more complex

It’s long been thought that the more complicated a password, the harder it is to crack. Once upon a time, this was true — but not any longer. As decryption and other hacker techniques become more advanced, it’s also becoming easier to guess shorter passwords. By adding additional characters, you’re adding millions of additional possibilities […]

Keep your machine clean

It’s best practice to always use the latest versions of security software, operating system, and web browsers on all your Internet-connected devices. Keeping your security software up to date will prevent hackers from taking advantage of known vulnerabilities. Use a tool like our PC Tune-up to keep your PC running like new.

Turn on automatic software updates

As a general rule, you want to keep your software updated so as to have the latest and most protected version available. Often, developers know of the latest threats before consumers and work tirelessly to protect against them. You can lose the hassle of having to manually update by turning on this feature.

Before getting rid of an old hard drive, make sure it’s unreadable

There’s always a chance somebody could get a hold of your old hard drives or flash drives. Make sure your data is deleted and unreadable before you throw out or sell it to anyone else. If it’s a work computer it also may be required by your employer’s tech policy, check with the IT department […]