If you are offended by the title of this post, please go bang your head against the wall. And if you think that replacing "sharukh" with George Clooney, Katrina Kaif, or your pet Chihuahua's name is smart, please go drown in chullu-bhar paani (palmful of water, for the English-speaking crowd).
There is no privacy anymore. And there's actually no smart-ass in the world anymore. Every smart-ass can be beaten. Which is why you need to be a step ahead.
While I can't gift you IQ points in real life, like vegetable patches in Farmville, I can give you some pointers instead. Passwords are a very personal thing and are unique to individuals. Or at least they should be. For starters, you should be the ONLY person who knows the password(s) to your n number of social networking and e-mail accounts. That's step UNO in protecting your accounts and ensuring safety.
Step DOS is making up a fantastic password. Like I said above, please don't be a fool to think that celebrity names are safe. You're most likely than not bursting to tell people who you "absolutely love from the bottom of your heart for their 'acting' skills". (Yes, I will question the "acting skills" of the above mentioned people--Clooney not so much--still.) If you have bits and pieces of your favourite personalities in your password, change it. Some ways that you can do it are:
1. Use a secret word: You might love to share everything with your boyfriend/girlfriend, but please, for the love of the remaining polar bears in the world, DON'T! Some secrets are better left in your mind. I've enough stories in my arsenal about these very "loved ones" (including fathers and mothers, of course) spying your online activity, SMSes, diary entries, etc., without a sliver of guilt. Which makes it important that you keep some numbers or words to yourself only.
If you love words, you can give yourself a nickname that you make up for yourself. Scandinavian names make fantastic passwords. #ReidarHeart#, #IngvalEdDick_69#, and more creative passwords make unbreakable codes. Or at least will keep the hackers guessing for longer.
2. Use a personal number: If you love numbers, use very secretive numbers. Like your weight, for instance. BMI Indexes make great passwords too. If you're someone with fluctuating weight, keep calculating and changing your password accordingly. However, if you're touchy-feely about your weight, use a number that you wish upon your worst enemy. Or use your birthday but twist them in a way.
Creating codes are easy. As long as you keep the key to breaking them in your head. For instance, if your birthday falls on 18 May 1986, count out the number of letters in each word (8 + 3 + 17) and twist them around.
3. Using characters to the max: There are ample number of characters in the keyboard. Use them to the max. Use them in between two short words, between two numbers, at the start, at the end.... For example, *SRK@suxBg^tym!
Well, I gave you three great ways to protect your passwords. Don't just restrict this to your online usage. It's essential to protect your debit card PIN numbers as well. Once, I was at Ansal Plaza and I had to withdraw cash. I went to the Citibank ATM opposite Meena Bazaar as it's right next to the door. The J&K ATM is some distance. Well let me tell you, Citibank chose the absolute worst spot to set up their machines. My PIN number was violated that day.
The machine is in full view of the crowd on the balcony above. And this spot is filled with idiots wasting their time smelling the hot dog guy smoke frankfurters, or lovelorn lovers touching each other all over. It was three of the very "friendly" idiots who cracked my PIN in a couple of seconds. They could plainly see me enter my number, and then one of them messaged the number on my cell. I was shocked that my "uncrackeble code" had been cracked! And I was humiliated, forced to change my PIN.
Of course my friends didn't want to steal my money. They just wanted me to pay for a hearty meal at McDonald's, but I didn't. People, if you come to Ansal Plaza, avoid the Citibank ATM machine!! Use the J&K Bank ATM which is in an enclosed space with a door and your PIN isn't visible to anyone. And make up a safe-enough password which you don't tell anyone.
Don't treat passwords lightly and keep changing them occasionally. If you think you have a strong password, make combinations of it and keep changing it. Don't stick to one or two passwords for more than a year. I hope that the knowledge I shared here is put to some use. Please feel free to share this with your friends and strangers, if you find it useful.
Update on the Citibank ATM at Ansal Plaza: The machine has now been removed. I guess Citibank had a tough time maintaining their customers' privacy or were just plainly unable to maintain it. Or something like that. I didn't ask them.
There is no privacy anymore. And there's actually no smart-ass in the world anymore. Every smart-ass can be beaten. Which is why you need to be a step ahead.
While I can't gift you IQ points in real life, like vegetable patches in Farmville, I can give you some pointers instead. Passwords are a very personal thing and are unique to individuals. Or at least they should be. For starters, you should be the ONLY person who knows the password(s) to your n number of social networking and e-mail accounts. That's step UNO in protecting your accounts and ensuring safety.
Step DOS is making up a fantastic password. Like I said above, please don't be a fool to think that celebrity names are safe. You're most likely than not bursting to tell people who you "absolutely love from the bottom of your heart for their 'acting' skills". (Yes, I will question the "acting skills" of the above mentioned people--Clooney not so much--still.) If you have bits and pieces of your favourite personalities in your password, change it. Some ways that you can do it are:
1. Use a secret word: You might love to share everything with your boyfriend/girlfriend, but please, for the love of the remaining polar bears in the world, DON'T! Some secrets are better left in your mind. I've enough stories in my arsenal about these very "loved ones" (including fathers and mothers, of course) spying your online activity, SMSes, diary entries, etc., without a sliver of guilt. Which makes it important that you keep some numbers or words to yourself only.
If you love words, you can give yourself a nickname that you make up for yourself. Scandinavian names make fantastic passwords. #ReidarHeart#, #IngvalEdDick_69#, and more creative passwords make unbreakable codes. Or at least will keep the hackers guessing for longer.
2. Use a personal number: If you love numbers, use very secretive numbers. Like your weight, for instance. BMI Indexes make great passwords too. If you're someone with fluctuating weight, keep calculating and changing your password accordingly. However, if you're touchy-feely about your weight, use a number that you wish upon your worst enemy. Or use your birthday but twist them in a way.
Creating codes are easy. As long as you keep the key to breaking them in your head. For instance, if your birthday falls on 18 May 1986, count out the number of letters in each word (8 + 3 + 17) and twist them around.
3. Using characters to the max: There are ample number of characters in the keyboard. Use them to the max. Use them in between two short words, between two numbers, at the start, at the end.... For example, *SRK@suxBg^tym!
Well, I gave you three great ways to protect your passwords. Don't just restrict this to your online usage. It's essential to protect your debit card PIN numbers as well. Once, I was at Ansal Plaza and I had to withdraw cash. I went to the Citibank ATM opposite Meena Bazaar as it's right next to the door. The J&K ATM is some distance. Well let me tell you, Citibank chose the absolute worst spot to set up their machines. My PIN number was violated that day.
The machine is in full view of the crowd on the balcony above. And this spot is filled with idiots wasting their time smelling the hot dog guy smoke frankfurters, or lovelorn lovers touching each other all over. It was three of the very "friendly" idiots who cracked my PIN in a couple of seconds. They could plainly see me enter my number, and then one of them messaged the number on my cell. I was shocked that my "uncrackeble code" had been cracked! And I was humiliated, forced to change my PIN.
Of course my friends didn't want to steal my money. They just wanted me to pay for a hearty meal at McDonald's, but I didn't. People, if you come to Ansal Plaza, avoid the Citibank ATM machine!! Use the J&K Bank ATM which is in an enclosed space with a door and your PIN isn't visible to anyone. And make up a safe-enough password which you don't tell anyone.
Don't treat passwords lightly and keep changing them occasionally. If you think you have a strong password, make combinations of it and keep changing it. Don't stick to one or two passwords for more than a year. I hope that the knowledge I shared here is put to some use. Please feel free to share this with your friends and strangers, if you find it useful.
Update on the Citibank ATM at Ansal Plaza: The machine has now been removed. I guess Citibank had a tough time maintaining their customers' privacy or were just plainly unable to maintain it. Or something like that. I didn't ask them.
