You might think that you're doing everything that you can to protect your Neopets account,
but it's almost certain that your actions online are exploitable in one way or another.
Lately a TON of users have been experiencing account theft and aren't sure how they could have possible been compromised.
This guide will hopefully help you combat any theft and greatly reduce your chances of being taken over.
Your Password
First, the people who want into your account aren't idiots.
If you change your password frequently, but only change it by sequential numbers, it's not going to help you.
Example: Changing your password weekly from "Pumpkin&Spice01" to "Pumpkin&Spice02" isn't going to be as effective as you'd like it to be.
If your account is more than a few years old and you use the same base password, it's vulnerable.
Using the same password more than once also leaves your account temporarily exposed to hackers who may have gathered your data elsewhere.
Tips: Change your password weekly and instead of changing numbers, adjust casing and symbols.
Never use the same password more than once or use it on any other site/application.
Your Email
Believe it or not, breaking into an email account is much easier than breaking into a Neopets account.
Don't give out personal information and NEVER use an email address that is attached to anything else on your account.
Your best option is to create an email address with an original and difficult password, link it to your Neopets account, and never log into it again.
There are too many ways for someone to break into your account when they know the email address attached to it. Keep it to yourself.
Cookies/Stored Info
Every so often, whether it's announced publicly or not, someone discovers another way to exploit some flaw on the Neopets website.
The best way to battle this without using software is have your browser store as little data as possible and have it delete this data on exit.
This won't protect you 100%, but it will make it difficult for any intruders to take control of your account or stay logged in.
Using Programs
While we can all agree that anything from clraik is safe, outside sources may not be.
Any time that you enter your login details somewhere you risk that information being logged, shared, and sold.
If you do attach your info to an outside application, either change your data or make any adjustments necessary to keep yourself from exposing vulnerable information.
Pins & Birthdays
Let's be honest, if someone had your password, access to your email, or was able to gather data from your computer, these things are useless.
It's a good idea to apply these extra securities if you feel like you're at risk because you use a public or shared computer.
Personally, I don't use a pin or birthday login because I find it annoying how many times I forget to enter it.
To be as safe as possible, use both.
Extra Tips
- Scan regularly for backdoors/keyloggers/RATs
- Understand that if your account is compromised, a mistake was made somewhere
- Know that even the people you trust the most can leak sensitive info (email, username, etc)
- Beware of things not related to Neopets that may be part of a plan to obtain information that well help someone gain access to your account
- Hesitate when accepting files from someone, even if they are detected as safe, they can contain malicious code
- If you purchase Neopets products, make sure the Paypal email you use is not linked to your Neopets account
- If you use Skype, make sure the email provided is not linked to your Neopets account
This may seem like a lot of work, but when there is a financial gain some people will stop at nothing and have no moral code.
Don't let them take away the things you pay/play/work hard for.
Mama Tiger
TRENDSETTER
ASSBAG
