On Cyber Monday, Passwords are the Key to Your Protection

Merchants are pushing Cyber Monday in an effort to make up for some of the lost sales from Black Friday. And they'll likely continue to push online sales as a way to support less-than-stellar holiday sales. But if you're shopping online, you should be extra cautious of identity theft.

One way to protect yourself if you're shopping online this year is to create accounts that have strong passwords. A strong password should be no less than 6 characters long, but it's better if they are at least 8. And strong passwords also take advantage of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Finally, strong passwords are not something that can be easily guessed. That means staying away from birth dates, common words or names, and thinking outside of your normal patterns. Take a little extra time this holiday season and create passwords that will keep your account information safe. Oh, and remember to change existing passwords regularly.