Secure your LJ account
Days just fly by. At least this time I started to think about posting before 11:15 p.m. This NaBloPoMo thing might be good for me after all. This might be a very good time for a Public Service Announcement. Please do spread this information, link around, whatever you want to do - the account you save could be your friend's.
Keeping your LiveJournal account secure
1. Don't share your password with anyone. If you do (such as the case of an emergency, where you ask someone to post for you), change it immediately.
Believe it or not, one of the most common account break-in scenarios involves someone who has been given the password. You probably completely, 100% trust your sister/brother/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend/spouse/roommate never to do anything bad with your password. But fights happen and other things happen, and that's what's most frustrating about those account-break-ins.
2. Keep your email address secure, and make sure that you're in control of your first-validated email address.
Your LiveJournal account is only as secure as your email address(s) and your email's password (make it a strong password!). If someone can get into your email account, they can reset your LiveJournal password.
I recommend you go in and remove any old emails that you've ever used with your LiveJournal account. First, you should select the oldest email on that list that you have control over, and change your email address to that one. Once you've validated it, you'll be able to go in and remove any newer email addresses (any email added after the one you selected). For security reasons, the first-validated email cannot be removed at this time.
Then, if you have old emails listed there that you currently don't have control over (can't get in, can't remember the password), you might be able to work with that email provider to get it back.
FYI, Hotmail sucks. This is because they recycle old usernames. Go back to Hotmail and re-register your name. Keep it. Trust me, it's not just for LiveJournal - anything you ever registered to your Hotmail address is at risk. Really, just work to keep your name active there, even if you remove it from your LiveJournal account.
3. Check your login page every now and then.
If you want to see all of your recent logins, you can do that here. If you think someone else has been signing into your account, do everything listed here - every single step, and in the order described.
4. Practice safe clicking.
Yadda, yadda, yadda, you know the drill. Don't click on anything in any emails you get. LiveJournal will never ask you for your password in an email or other correspondence, ever. Don't click on memes, you tubes, or anything odd, even if they're posted by a friend, without hovering your mouse and checking the status bar to make sure that what you're clicking is for real.
Edit: And run any and all spyware/virus/malware detection programs regularly: Spybot, AVG, AdAware, Malwarebytes, Avast etc.
Is there anything I missed?
Keeping your LiveJournal account secure
1. Don't share your password with anyone. If you do (such as the case of an emergency, where you ask someone to post for you), change it immediately.
Believe it or not, one of the most common account break-in scenarios involves someone who has been given the password. You probably completely, 100% trust your sister/brother/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend/spouse/roommate never to do anything bad with your password. But fights happen and other things happen, and that's what's most frustrating about those account-break-ins.
2. Keep your email address secure, and make sure that you're in control of your first-validated email address.
Your LiveJournal account is only as secure as your email address(s) and your email's password (make it a strong password!). If someone can get into your email account, they can reset your LiveJournal password.
I recommend you go in and remove any old emails that you've ever used with your LiveJournal account. First, you should select the oldest email on that list that you have control over, and change your email address to that one. Once you've validated it, you'll be able to go in and remove any newer email addresses (any email added after the one you selected). For security reasons, the first-validated email cannot be removed at this time.
Then, if you have old emails listed there that you currently don't have control over (can't get in, can't remember the password), you might be able to work with that email provider to get it back.
FYI, Hotmail sucks. This is because they recycle old usernames. Go back to Hotmail and re-register your name. Keep it. Trust me, it's not just for LiveJournal - anything you ever registered to your Hotmail address is at risk. Really, just work to keep your name active there, even if you remove it from your LiveJournal account.
3. Check your login page every now and then.
If you want to see all of your recent logins, you can do that here. If you think someone else has been signing into your account, do everything listed here - every single step, and in the order described.
4. Practice safe clicking.
Yadda, yadda, yadda, you know the drill. Don't click on anything in any emails you get. LiveJournal will never ask you for your password in an email or other correspondence, ever. Don't click on memes, you tubes, or anything odd, even if they're posted by a friend, without hovering your mouse and checking the status bar to make sure that what you're clicking is for real.
Edit: And run any and all spyware/virus/malware detection programs regularly: Spybot, AVG, AdAware, Malwarebytes, Avast etc.
Is there anything I missed?