The lastest update on business on the consumer front is a primer on password protection. The consumer in today’s world has the greatest of opportunities to have things easy. He can make transactions online, purchase online, bank online and have innumerable tasks made online thanks to the Internet and the growth of e-commerce. A factor that is crucial to online transactions and banking is security. Every site asks the customer or client to sign up for accounts and thus, he or she has to create passwords in order to be able to access the account. What more? They have to protect the password for posterity because the threat of hacking has grown multifold in the recent past. Studies made recently have revealed that most consumers are lethargic about password theft and are not aware of its repercussions. Many still use 123456 or abc123, words with six characters or less, and common slangs. They also don’t mix and match uppercase letters with small letters and symbols. This makes it all the more easier for hackers. Recent shocking business updates say that a hacker can crack a password in 17 minutes. Even security questions are not very helpful because answers to common questions like “Where did you do study?”  or “Your mother’s maiden name?” can be found online in a lot of social networking sites of which too, a consumer is a major part of. So information that was previously considered secure and private is available easily on the internet. Says Linda Criddle of Lookbothways Online Safety Consulting, “Lie when asked security questions. Your answers do not even have to be truthful or relevant to the security questions. Just coin a phrase or an answer that you can remember for ages. In this way, hackers will not be able to break into your accounts.”  It is better to coin mixed up words or letters from phrases, replace letters to make illogical non-words. Also, it makes sense to avoid common sequences like 123456, abcdef, proper names, birthdays, addresses etc. Have different passwords for different types of sites or atleast make subtle changes to some of them. Changes that only you can remember. Those involved in trade or business make it a good practice to change their password every 60 days. The most sacred of them all being the email password as anyone who breaks an email account has access to scores of other accounts held by the same consumer. Protect your password today!