How important is it that you construct a strong password? Just ask Fox and Friends Weekend co-host Dave Briggs, or former Alaskan governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Both of them have had their email accounts hacked by intruders who were able to guess their victims’ passwords.

For Briggs, it was his Hotmail account. Writing as Briggs, the attacker sent all of Briggs’ contacts an email begging that they send money via Western Union so that he might be released from Malaysia where he, ostensibly, was trapped.

For Palin, it was her Yahoo e-mail account. The self-deprecating attacker said taking over the account was easy; all he had to do was reset Palin’s password using her birth date and zip code.The security question was “How did you meet your spouse?”. Palin said publicly on several occasions that they met in high school.

How to set a secure password

• Never use a birth date, anniversary, address, child’s name, maiden name or pet’s name. All of those things are in public records or can be easily ascertained.
• The longer your password, the more secure it will be. Never use a password shorter than eight characters.
• Use a combination of numbers, upper and lower case letters and symbols. Use easily remembered phrases, such as “!H8g8rs!” for “I hate gators”.
• Use unique passwords for each account, otherwise the hacker can simultaneously gain access to all your accounts including those you use for online financial transactions.
• Never leave your passwords under your keyboard, or in your purse or wallet. Instead, keep an encrypted spreadsheet on your computer, protected—of course—with a secure password.

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