Pssst…Security of Your Accounts!
Hello fine people…Zeek needs everyone to read and heed this message, which pertains to the “hacking” issue a few have been experiencing.
PASSWORDS: There is a lot going on with our Zeek Geeks and Fraud Squad in trying to protect your information but, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Passwords are supposed to be secure and prevent others from logging into your account. In the past few weeks we’ve run across people using “password” as their password. Some people have just used their username as their password. Still others decided that “123456” is a somehow secure (thousands of you!). Don’t use common words like “money” or “love” or “success”, “Cash” “Penny” or common religious words or names. So called “Dictionary Attacks” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_attack) will grab those in a matter of seconds.
So, here is your lesson for ALL your passwords: A secure password should contain a capital letter, at least one number and even one or more special characters “&%$#” (NOTE: Not all sites allow special characters. Currently Zeek doesn’t allow either).
Another easy approach is to use a phrase you remember easily. Something like the old typing phrase “The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dog” where you use the first letters of the phrase to form TQBFJOtLD” as the password (note the capital and smaller case letters).
The same thing would work with a nursery rhyme: Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary could us the first two letters of each word to form “MaMaQuCo”
Another tip: Use increasing or decreasing (in value) numbers for the vowels in your own name. For instance, let’s say your name is Jack G Welsh; your password would become, “J1ckGW2lsh”. That password would become even stronger by using a $ for the “S”, making the password: “J1ckGW2l$h”; Pick something you will remember, tweak it and don’t give it to anyone!
Another tip: Don’t use consecutive numbers, such as SMITH123. The Zeek Geeks are going to be mandating secure passwords in the immediate future so make certain yours is STRONG!
PHISHING/PHARMING: If you came across a website that read, “Double the credit limit on your Visa Card” and it asked you for your name, address, credit card number, CCV and expiration date on the card, would you fill it in? OF COURSE NOT!
Yet we continue to see hundreds of Affiliates who stumble upon websites claiming they can “Double Your Zeek Points” and gladly providing them with name, username, email and password (even without the password, this is NOT safe – see above!). If it sounds too good to be true, it is: No one can double your points except you; by working hard and not looking for shortcuts.
Protect yourself and help Zeek stay safe! We’re lookin’ out for you!
Oh, by the way, don’t use any of the password suggestions above, either! As soon as this is published, those are no longer safe.
(The Compliance and IT Teams)
From - http://zeekrewardsnews.com/2012/07/pssst-security-of-your-accounts/
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