Nine tips to keep your passwords and personal information safe

-Mirror

Millions of internet users were told of the security flaw this week which has meant log-in details could have been harvested by hackers for the last two years.

 Banks and internet firms are frantically working to repair the ‘Heartbleed bug’ .

Millions of internet users were told of the security flaw this week which has meant log-in details could have been harvested by hackers for the last two years.

With two-thirds of websites potentially affected by the OpenSSL vulnerability officially called CVE-2014-0160, users are being advised now is as good a time as any to change your online passwords.

Passwords are increasingly being seen as inherently flawed by tech industries which are looking towards using biometric recognition.

In 2011 IBM predicted that in five years we will instead look into a camera or speak a name into a microphone, because our eyes and voices are unique.

But in the meantime passwords and pin codes are the best we have so here are nine ways to keep yours safe.

1. Don't be obvious

Don’t choose passwords associated with you.

A lot of information can be found about you online and hackers can easily use social media to find out your home town or favourite football team.

2. Long words and underscores

Use long words or combine words using underscores for a phrase you_can_easily_remember.

3. Combinations

Don’t just use the alphabet.

A combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols within words are the best way to make your password almost 1mpossible to cr@ck.

4. Recovery

Set up password recovery options and keep them up to date. If you forget your password or get locked out by a cyber criminal, many services will send an email to a recovery email address.

Make sure this email address is up to date and add a mobile number as an alternative if the service allows it

5. Bad spelling

Hackers use systems to quickly work through every word in the dictionary in various combinations so try to avoid correctly spellings of words found in there.

6. Mix it up

Use different passwords for email, banking and other important websites.

Then if one password is compromised you are not vulnerable to identity theft.

7. In your head

Do not write passwords down - someone may get hold of your list. Instead use one of the many ‘password vaults’ available on your mobile phone which require just one, strong password to access.

If you have to write it down, disguise what it is and store it in a safe place away from your computer.

8. Out and about

If possible avoid entering passwords on computers you don’t control, for exampled at an Internet café or library, which may contain malware that steals your passwords.

Also, do not tick the ‘Remember this password?’ box on a computer you don’t own.

9. Change it

Try to change your passwords every year or two.