Harry Gross: Password to the wise

D

EAR HARRY:

I did my banking through my computer for several years without one bit of trouble - until December.

Someone, somewhere, then hacked into the account and stole $1,100.

The bank caught it somehow on the next attempt for $6,102. The bank dealt with this wonderfully, taking care of the $1,100 and helping me to get a new password established.

They also gave me a few warnings about passwords, like making them longer than six characters (I don't know why six is their magic number).

I then searched the Internet for more ways to make my passwords more effective. Do you have any suggestions for me? I was lucky once, but it scared the daylights out of me.

WHAT HARRY SAYS: The guy who hit you was a pro. He didn't use round numbers. A toast to your bank for what it did. Two other rules are at the top of the list. The first is to use different passwords for different sites. Using only one (so you can remember it easily) gives a hacker entry into all the accounts you have. Keep your passwords in a list outside your computer. In addition, use upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and at least one symbol. Avoid pets' and children's names as well as birth dates.

And change your passwords every year or two. You can even change just one or two characters in each. Good luck!