Staying safe online is something that has always been really important to me, from keeping your personal information safe, to keeping your computer safe, to staying safe in games. It’s not always easy, either, as the people who want to do bad things are always coming up with new and tricky ways to get you to give them your address or phone number, or install their malicious software, or to hijack your character and take your equipment or gold or whatever. Fortunately, even though there are always going to be a lot of ways people can try to trick you, there are only a few things they’re trying to get from you, and once you know about them and their tricks it becomes much easier to recognize them and protect yourself against their schemes.
[singlepic id=3269 w=320 h=240 float=left]First of all, what do they want, these bad guys? I always picture them as old fashioned spies in long trench-coats and dark glasses trying to take pictures of my personal information with one of those cool mini spy cameras. Lucky for us, there are only a few pieces of information that they want, which makes it a lot easier for us to protect ourselves. The biggest thing they try to get their hands on is any key personal information; that’s your full name, your home address, home phone number, and social security number. That information is usually pretty well protected by most people, but as I said, the bad guys are tricky, so they are also very interested in things like your school, where you might work, your birth date, your sports team, your pet’s name – basically anything that will tell them more about you than just your name.
Keeping your home address and phone number safe is obvious, I hope everyone out there is already very careful with this information, but why should you worry about giving up something like your pet’s name or the town you live in or the hospital you were born in? Well, have you ever had to recover a lost password to a game or website? They ask security challenge questions like ‘what was your first pet’s name?’ or ‘What town were you born in?’ all the time, right? If one of our fedora-wearing spies gets their hands on a piece of information like that, it’s like a puzzle piece, and when they have enough pieces of the puzzle filled in they’ve got a picture of YOU they can use for lots of naughty things. The less you give them, the safer you are.
This is also important to keep in mind when you’re signing up for a new website or online service too – where did you find out about the site? What kind of information is it looking for? Believe it or not there are fake sites on the Internet that try to get people to sign up and fill out all this personal information to use it for bad things, so if a site is asking for a lot more information than you think they need, ask some questions before filling it out. Why would a website need your home address or phone number if all you want to do is read an article? And NO gaming or social website should ever need your social security number – if a website is asking for that just click away immediately. Maybe close the browser then wash your hands too, just to be safe.
Another important note on signing up for new websites and games is your user name and password. After all, that’s all that’s keeping the bad guys away from your profile information and, in a game, your characters and equipment. Many of us – maybe all of us by now – have multiple profiles on multiples games and websites, and most of like to use a similar (or the same) username in all of these, because that’s our online identity; we like people to know who we are, we have a reputation and friends that are important to us, all linked to that identity. That means that it’s your password, that one little secret code word, that is keeping the bad guys out of all your stuff.
Passwords need to be strong to be effective, but the stronger they are the harder they are to remember, especially across multiple games and websites, so people often fall into two different password ‘camps’ – either using easy passwords, like their last name backwards or, terrifyingly enough, ‘password’ (OK, if you have ANY game or website account with the password of ‘password’, please stop reading right now and go change it. Do it now. I’m totally serious. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.) or they use a really strong password, but they use the same exact password across all the games and websites they sign up for.[singlepic id=3270 w=150 h=112 float=right]
You can see the problem with both cases – using an easy password means that it won’t take the bad guys many guesses to get in, and the same password across all websites and games means that if one of your sites or games gets compromised or one of your accounts gets hacked (it happens, even to huge sites like the Gawker network, which is the home of the gaming site Kotaku) then the bad guys have access to ALL of your accounts, and believe me, once they get your username and password to, say, your WoW account, they’ll try that information on LOTRO, then DC Online, then EQII, and so on, and so on, until they’ve hit every first tier and second tier game out there, and if you use the same username and password in every game you play they can strip every active account you have, literally overnight, while you’re asleep.
There is a pretty good compromise between ‘multiple easy passwords’ and ‘same hard password’ that you can use that will keep your accounts safer. No password or website security is perfect, of course, so I can’t say you’ll NEVER get hacked, but this is better than the other two options above, and much easier to remember than random super-strong passwords for every website you sign up for. What you should do is choose a really strong password , one that combines upper case and lower case letters, numbers, and at least one special character (if allowed) , and then for every website and game you sign up for, add two or three characters to the password that will identify the site or game in a way that’s obvious to you, but would be very difficult for someone else to guess. For example, my standard password could be D1tto (it’s not, obviously) and I might use the first two letters of the URL or game I’m signing up for, plus another identifier known only to me, so for MMO Crunch I would add mm$ at the end of the password. That way, even if someone can get my password for another site and I use the same username, it isn’t going to let them into my MMO Crunch profile.
[singlepic id=3280 w=549 h=400 float=left]I’d like to talk briefly about changing your passwords too. One of the most secure things you can do for online accounts is regularly change your passwords. Most major companies force their users and employees to do this, sometimes as often as once a month. For regular folks like you and me, though, it’s a pain, there’s no doubt. How do you do it, how do you remember which sites to do it with, how do you decide how often, and how do you remember what you changed it to? You don’t want to save some text document on your desktop with all your usernames and passwords on it, obviously – that’s what Neville Longbottom did and he wound up letting Sirius Black into Gryffindor tower! We sure don’t want that! What you can do, though, is just make a list of what sites you want to use rotating passwords on, and the date you want to change them. You only need to change them by one or two characters to be effective, and though I don’t recommend using a 1,2,3 at the end of the password (that’s pretty obvious) you can use the associated special characters related to that instead, like !,@,#…
Easy for you to remember, very hard for the bad guys to figure out.
One last note on account security, and this one should be obvious, but I’m going to say it anyway. The strongest most unguessable password on the planet is not going to protect you if you tell it to other people! If someone needs your password… no, let me rephrase that. NOBODY NEEDS YOUR PASSWORD EXCEPT YOU! Not your friend from school who just wants to log in to see your house or your new armor, not some guy you met in-game who promised to give you that awesome sword or finish a hard quest for you. And the same goes for writing it down – ideally you don’t want to do this, but if you do feel the need to jot your username and password down in some notebook or on a sticky note somewhere so you don’t forget it, make sure that notebook or sticky note is kept in a secure place and is not rattling around the bottom of your backpack with half a pack of gum and those broken headphones you keep forgetting to throw away. If you’ve already shared your password with people, it’s OK, just go change it now and don’t do that again!
That’s the basics on account and information safety, but there’s a lot more to talk about in part two of this series, so please come back next week for even more! Until then have fun and play safe!
This seems really good, but it’s a good thing that you don’t want kids to read this because they would get to the first sentence, then scroll over the page to see how long it is, roll their eyes and then look for something more interesting.
Heck, I’m an adult and that’s what I did too.
9 paragraphs. “Easy to remember” Your kidding right?
Seriously, there’s something to be said for BREVITY and PARAGRAPH TOPIC HANDLES to keep interest.
Leave preaching to those long winded guys on Sundays.
hey that’s really good advice. and i am a kid and i know all about this stuff. seriously. most honest and truly really do.
i already do that!!!!!!!!
i never give my passwords or that s**t to nobody because they could steal money or those things that are valuuable to me in a game or something i am a kid and why did you put 6+2? its a stuped question put some algebra or some of those.
ok i am a third teen year old girl and srsly i know all wacky stuff. thx a lot anyways it does help but please try to make it a little bit more short
Wow – people are complaining this is too long? If you can’t read nine paragraphs in a sitting I feel deeply sad for the American educational system. I thought it was clear and well written.
As for anyone who says they already do this, good for you, but statistics clearly show that you’re in the minority, and for every person who takes web security seriously there are probably ten people – both adults and kids – who don’t even realize it is important.
Short version:
Any information you give out about yourself may be used by evildoers. Even if you think it can’t.
This means – no personal information at all. None. Not your favorite TV show even if it has ever been used as a password back-up question.
I know this sounds really, really paranoid – but too many kids and adults have had their online accounts hacked to ignore.
And make sure your password is pretty hard (but not too hard for you to remember) and use different versions on different accounts. If you use the same one on a bunch of accounts, that is like having all your keys on one key ring and letting someone have it for a while. If you use easy passwords, then they can guess it too quickly (Ever think of how many people use “123456” as a password?).
So don’t use a dictionary word, be sure to add some odd characters to it, and that works pretty well.
I am a kid and i know all this stuff i think all kids should know this because people could get a hold of there personal info and all the things that are important to them like family and friends or what ever they can get there hands on but honestly why would some one even think about doing this to a kid its so wrong and i think most kids need to learn about all this stuff because people could seriously hurt them or there family and friends i think this is rediculous why people do this it is just sickening more kids should know this like be told about it in computer class at there school or some thing of that sort.
You may or may not already know this. The fact is, many littler kids don’t, so respect Ditto’s article as it is, everyone should be able to read 9 paragraphs to know more about safety, which goes a long way :)
clearly we should not pay attention and it is too long and that truck driver guy up there maybe people have better things to do then read 9 paragraphs
we all know these things
I will never tell my password to anybody even if you beg me to tell you .So NEVER beg me ok.If you say no you will be crush and you get the phao”s cures
well i would never ever give my password up ok i man it then someone asks i will leave or send them from my house
Thank you game monster for these wonderful tips nobody wants to get hacked or whatever else thank you again.
Well written! I’ve read the whole article, it may help the majority of the people who would read though I already know this. =)
some people have a life
hello this is ok information but i think everyone already knows this, and really 5+4?
Hey wizard 101 fan 35 I love wizard101 to thats how I found this
you do know what some one can do with this if i want it i can get in to some ones account useing this info any one can by useing this info. you dont want to put something like this online it can be use for bad. and any way my friend from school can hack a account , net work i am just letting you no there are some that can get in to a account with out a password i dont do any of that but if i want it it still be a no for me i no what can that can do if some one did
i am in my teens if any of you want to know .
I tink wizard101 is the best game ever and i think that you shold try it, becaus when a new game comes out, why will you try that game and why not wzard101. wizard101 cool try it at least not trying it. plus you cant do anything wrong in the game. the game wizard101. ROCKS! so plz try wizard101. p.s.
POPTRAIA IS WEIRD IT I VERY WEIRD
THX :D
i did it want to use my real name or my account name for w101 it was a name that pop in to my head so i just want it to let you no why i use the name sadowguy
i have a wizard101 account and the sly games are the best
and soon sly4 will be in the us and soon pokemon b/w will be here in the us
i beat it wizard101 the game they need to add a new lvl soon
i was on the login to wizard101 to get to the game and i saw this link so i want to it and i read it all i know all that and i got some tips on what some may use as a password if i seen that then any one can just see what they can do to get in to a account
is any one online
i am out see ya
Hi I have been 3 years on wizard101 and i always have not do anything like that i almost do that but i remember something like this and i say never mind and i got off line and i learn to not do that i did not give password or anything i just was gonna add her on face book well i learn not to give nothing to no buddy, remember that kids, safe first than to not be safe.
Well i played this for 2 years and people should not curse because its the wrong thing to do, and really on a game
kinda long but useful thanks
wow i have better things to do than read these nine paragraphs cause i know all this stuff
eeesh its long a read the fisr sentance and went bye bye
geez 9 serouisly i mean her it is short
dont ever give your password
no personal things
that was all you had to say
i have played this game for a bit more then 35 days and i have not did any of this yet and i no how it fills when someone takes your account i no how it fills and i did this on youtube one time and i gave my password for that account and my e-mail i was 12 at the time i am 14 now and it is it fun so i ask my friend from school if he can help me hack it back he sad yes so he help me with that he is a hacker that does it hack for bad i seen him hack he does it when the school locks youtube so e hacks the net work so it is unluck
i give my fist name out on the game be for it does it bug me if some one knows my fist name or nick name
i make my sis mad when i make my labtop take over the main pc and she gets so mad it is fun
i only read the first comment and i a kid and i didn’t read it i just went to wizard101.com
@cindy You didn’t listen to Ditto!
Why are you saying its needs to be shortened. Its just 9 paragraphs people! I’m 13 and I read 2 or 3 big books a week. You shouldnt say 9 is too long :)
this is stupid solve the math problem so we no you human come on srsly every human this is crap
hahahaha nice cause this is not sesame street i know this for many times at this rate so im private about this
I dn’t Cr Abt th sntnc wll Nvr gv m psswrd P.S Dtt Y r Bg Twk nd fr
This message has been disemvoweled. Keep it polite and no swearing, folks. -Mod
i am in moo shoo and can not find what quest i qm on
what i do is i use two passwords, say, autumn99 and wizling44 (though those arent the ones i use)if i havent logged in for a long time, i try one. if that doesnt work, i try the other.
what is shown here is important but is very long.
Wonderful article! Not all kids know everything they should about internet safety and I think Ditto is doing a great job at informing them. Parents should sit their kids down and tell them as well, but they don’t. Keep up the great work!
Happy Ditto Day!
Oh yeah part 1 of his site.
m tlkng m… thnk bnch f ppl lrd knw ths s**t x bp x mnng swr wrd nd sn’t ths stw pt nm Dtt th gm mnstr ll sn’t tht fnn wll b PPS WRCK T DD R DDT.
This post has been disemvoweled. No personal attacks, even with smilies. -Mod
I’m a kid and I completely agree with the bus driver guy. You people should just read it, because not everyone knows about safety on computers and what people could do to you. And why did you click on this safety link if you didn’t want to read about safety?
9 paragraphs is way too long