External security

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Revision as of 16:16, 11 September 2016 by Isa (talk | contribs)

External Security is any security measure that is outwith xat's control and is in the user's hands, such as using a strong password, and protecting their email.

Therefore, these tips are not directly connected to xat and it is ultimately the user's choice to follow these tip and they can be applied to website. These tips are critical to keeping your xat account secure and we recommend that you utilise them.

Remember that xat will never ask you your personal information.

Password

Passwords are the key words of account security and having a strong password is essential while using xat or any other website. Having a strong password prevents people from guessing and brute forcing your password.

To make sure that no one can guess your password, avoid using your name or names of family members, your username, birthday, repeated characters, or any common words found in the dictionary. Remember to use a different password from your email.

Note: On xat, any non-alphanumeric characters will be stripped from your password, so ensure that it only contains alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9).

Making a Strong Password

Making a strong password can be difficult, however generally a strong password consists of at least 8 characters that are a combination of letters (both uppercase and lowercase) and numbers. The more characters your password contains, the stronger it will be.

You can also use the following generator which will take any input and turn it into a secure password (which works with that) that you can use for your account: http://crypo.pw/secure-mpg1-online

Regularly Changing Your Password

In a fast paced and forever changing place like the Internet, it is recommended that you change your password every 3 - 6 months so that in the event there is any sort of data breach, your account will likely not be affected.

Email Security

Email security is doubly important, as this is basically your centre of communication and links all of your accounts together, be it xat or any other social networking site.

2-step verification

The main email providers allow you to use 2-step verification to secure your email accounts. It requires you to give to your provider your phone number. Each time someone (including you) tries to access your email account, you will be sent a security token to your phone to then enter on your email login which will allow you to continue. This way, only someone with your phone is able to login into your email account.

Here is a list of some providers who provide their users with 2-step verification:

Note: We do not recommend Yahoo or Hotmail/Outlook due to their policies which allow their users to re-use email handles if they become inactive.