To defend against fraud, change your password regularly and make it as secure as possible. Malicious users go to great lengths to access accounts, using methods such as password guessing programs, viruses that record every keystroke you type, and websites that are disguised to look like sites you know and trust.

Your password should:

• Be hard for others to guess. Don't use personal information like your name, birthday, or driver's license number.
• Combine upper and lower case letters, symbols, and numbers. This variability makes it harder to guess.
• Avoid sequences or repeated characters. Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent characters on your keyboard (QWERTY).
• Be eight or more characters. The longer the password, the more secure it will be.
• Be different than your password for other sites. Otherwise, if someone acquires that one password, they could use it to access your accounts with other sites.

To protect your password:

• Keep it safe. Keep a record of your passwords in a safe place.
• Don't share it. Never give out your password to anyone, not even friends.
• Use antivirus software. Equip your computer with antivirus software.
  • Even if you have a secure password, a computer virus can allow someone to compromise it.
• Be careful. If you receive an email asking you to change your password or provide any personal information, be cautious, even if it appears to come from a legitimate company.
  • Type it in yourself. Rather than clicking a link in such an email, type the site's URL into your browser's address bar.
• Watch for yahoo.com. Only type your sign-in information for Yahoo! products into sites that end with "yahoo.com".

Tips for mobile devices:

• Use a password. Consider using a password on your mobile device.
• Lock it. Many devices can be locked so that the only way to use them is to type in a code or password.
• Lost or stolen devices can cause problems. Lost or stolen phones without this layer of protection can easily be used to access personal information, make calls, or send texts that look like they're coming from you.