Seven Tips to Protect Yourself Online with Better Passwords

The good news? Creating strong passwords doesn’t require advanced technical skills. With a few smart habits, you can dramatically reduce your risk of fraud, identity theft, and account takeovers. Below are seven proven best practices to help you create stronger passwords and remember them without frustration.

1. Use Long Passwords or Passphrases

• Aim for 12–16 characters or more.
• Consider a passphrase made of several unrelated words.
  • Example: RiverSunsetCoffeeBike!

2. Never Reuse Passwords Across Accounts

• Use a unique password for every important account, especially:
  • Online banking
  • Email
  • Payment apps
  • Retail and subscription services

3. Avoid Personal or Predictable Information

• Names of family members or pets
• Birthdays or anniversaries
• Phone numbers or addresses
• Common substitutions like P@ssw0rd

4. Mix in Capital Letters and Symbols to Make Passwords Stronger

• Capitalize letters in uncommon places (not just the first letter)
• Add symbols like ! @ # $ % where they feel natural
• Replace spaces in passphrases using symbols.
  • Example: River!Sunset#Coffee$Bike

5. Use a Password Manager (and Let It Do the Heavy Lifting)

• Use a reputable password manager to:
  • Generate strong passwords automatically.
  • Store them securely
  • Autofill logins safely

6. Add Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Wherever Possible

• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on important accounts.
• This may include:
  • A one-time code sent to your phone
  • A biometric login (fingerprint or face ID)
  • An authenticator app

7. Change Passwords When There’s a Reason — Not Just a Notice

• A company reports a data breach.
• You receive an alert that your credentials were exposed.
• You notice suspicious account activity.

Final Thought: Strong Passwords Are All About Peace of Mind

Looking for more resources for preventing fraud and avoiding scams, check out our Fraud Prevention page.

Password Security Check

Why Is This Important?

How Does Password Security Check Work?

What’s the Benefit To Me?

Who at the Bank Can Access my Password?

When Will Password Security Check Be Active?

Want to Know More about Creating and Using Stronger Passwords?

Source:
¹https://cybernews.com/security/password-leak-study-unveils-2025-trends-reused-and-lazy/

Financial Fraud Attempts Growing

Data breaches, unfortuanately, have become a common occurance in this modern world.  High-severity breaches include sensitive data such as social security numbers and passwords. With so many of these instances, it is essential to review your statements and monitor your accounts regularly. 

At the Bank, we continue to see the number of attempts by fraudsters to gain access to client accounts grow. They use the information found on the dark web from the hundreds of data breaches to impersonate the customer on the phone. (This is why we go to such lengths to accurately identify you when you call into our Customer Care Team.) Or with that info, fraudsters can sometimes guess the client’s ID and password for online banking, which they will then use to transfer funds or send payments to fake businesses.

How can you best protect yourself from these scenarios?

• Check your statements routinely and call the Bank if you see any irregularities.
• Use long passwords with at least ten characters and a mix of alphanumeric characters (A, b, 1, 9) using upper and lower case and symbols (@, $, %, *).
• Never use the same passwords on multiple sites.
• Speak to a banker to set up a security challenge pass-phrase that must be shared before making any changes to account(s).
• Never use your mother’s maiden name or other easily obtained information for passwords or security phrases. These can be found on genealogy sites or learned from your social media. 
• Update the Bank with your current contact info, particularly your cell phone number.  This helps us contact you faster if we notice something odd with your account.
• Those fun quizzes on social media about “have you ever” or trivia contests – don’t do it. Those are often collection points for hackers to gain extra info about you. 

 Other tips and resources for protecting against financial fraud are available here.
Fraud Protection Tips

If you ever notice something odd or feel your account may have been compromised, please always contact the Bank immediately. 

 Ashland: 573-657-0849  |  Columbia: 573-447-1771  |  Fulton: 573-642-3322  |  Mokane: 573-676-5711
Or Reach Any Locations Using: 800-446-2265

How Much is Your Information Worth and How To Protect Yourself from Account Take Over

Were you aware that your email account is worth real dollars on the hacker market? This might explain why we continue to see more and more people with their Gmail, and other accounts being hijacked. According to Privacy Affairs and their 2022 Dark Web Price Index, a person’s information is seen as a valuable resource to cybercrooks because they can do so much with it.  While you might be thinking, “Why would anyone want access to my email account? It’s not my checking account.” You would be surprised what a resource the average person’s email account is.

The biggest reason your ordinary, everyday email account is valuable is that it is often the key to all of your other online accounts. When signing up for anything such as Amazon, credit cards, or online banking, you provide your email as a contact point. If someone then tries to take over that other account, they simply request a new password to be emailed, and BAM, now they have that account too. That gets really scary when it’s your bank account or credit card, but even with access to your Amazon account, they could easily order a couple of 52″ flat-panel TVs and then sell them for cash.

Another way we see crooks using hijacked accounts is that they monitor who you do business with, and then send people a request posing as you.
Example: “Hi Bill, would you please wire $3500 to a friend of mine in California? His name is xxxxx, and the account number is xxxxxx ….” Fortunately for our customers, we will not send a wire-based from an email request, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen at another well-meaning business. The important thing is not to give someone the opportunity to hack into your account

Fraudsters gain access, change passwords to lock you out, and hold accounts hostage until you pay their fee. This type of fraud happens to both individuals and businesses.

Here are some suggestions to help prevent an account takeover:

• Use only one password for one account.  Don’t ever use the same password for multiple accounts, especially your email account.  
• Use a password with at least 8 digits and with a mix of numbers and special characters.
  A professional hacker can crack a 6 digit, lowercase-only password in 10 minutes. Make it 8 digits, but still only lowercase letters, and it extends the time by a few minutes.  Instead, just adding a mix of uppercase, numbers, and symbols makes it much harder and longer to crack!  And don’t think that abcd1234 will throw them off.  That is one of the most common passwords used and common names found in the dictionary are all tested first.
• Avoid Public Internet or Wifi
  Hackers can easily break into public internet access points such as free public wifi offered in a cafe or hotel.  They will often spoof a free wifi spot with a similar name to the real establishment. When you log into a compromised wifi network hackers can steal information from your phone or from the data you’re sending and receiving from a website. Don’t ever log into your bank accounts through public wifi.  If you have to use a public wifi use a VPN to encrypt your connection.
• Be mindful of “shoulder surfers.”
  Be aware of your surroundings and mindful if someone is nearby who could look over your shoulder when you key in your password.  That cute guy at the coffee shop may be smiling at you because he knows how to access your account.
• Be wary of emails from strangers, especially if it comes bearing gifts.
  Your mama’s advice about not talking to strangers applies here as well.  If you get an email from someone you don’t know, do not click on any of the links, and certainly don’t open any attachments.  They almost always will load some kind of malware or virus that can give a crook access to your computer or send them all of your keystrokes.  Emails now often come with a promise of a gift card to your favorite store if you take a survey or visit their website.  You’re better off just deleting those.
  
• If you suspect your account has been hacked, stop using your computer.
  If your account has been hacked, your computer may be hacked as well.  If a cyber-crook has access to your computer, changing your Gmail account password won’t help.  They’ll know the new password also.  Hire a computer pro to check your machine for viruses and malware, and remove them.  Having antivirus software that is up to date can help prevent this.  However, if you clicked on a nefarious link it will then bypass your security software. In the meantime find a computer or device that you don’t normally use (preferably not a public computer). You can access your account with it to change your password.

We hope this will help you realize that your computer security is not something to take lightly.  While we can’t help you with fixing your computer, we can help you if you feel your checking or savings accounts may be in jeopardy.  Please contact your Personal Banker or our Customer Care Team if you have concerns that someone may have access to your bank accounts or online banking.  We can walk you through the process and help you determine if your bank accounts are at risk. 

Fraud Prevention Center