Worried About Your Password? Change It ... Now!

CNBC, By Kelli Grant

With big data breaches becoming more common, experts say it's time to take more steps to protect yourself:

Pick a better password: "Passwords have to be easy to remember but hard to guess," said Parry Aftab, an attorney specializing in Internet privacy. Her trick: Pick a sentence (not a common phrase or saying) that can be boiled down to a string of letters, numbers and symbols. For example, "On Jason's fourth birthday, he ate cake!," which might boil down to "OJ4thbh8c!"

Even then, it's not smart to use the same password for your bank login as you do for a retailer's site or social networking account. Pick a different phrase, she said, or at least consider sneaking in a site-specific abbreviation somewhere (FB for Facebook, say, to make it "OJ4thFBbh8c!") to make it unique to the site, without overburdening your memory. 

Try a password manager: Services such as LastPass, Dashlane and KeePass create and manage complex passwords for you. "They make it a million times easier to create complicated passwords," Tyler said. The catch: you'll need a very secure password or authentication as a master password for that account. Basic versions are free, while premium versions covering more accounts and devices can run up to $20 per year. 

Beef up authentication: Some sites, including Gmail and Twitter, offer two-step verification—which requires users logging in from a new device to enter a code sent to the mobile phone linked to the account. When that technology is available, enable it, said Webb. "If you have that kind of step, it doesn't matter if someone steals your username and password," he said. "They still can't get in, unless they stole your phone, too."

Limit your financial risk: Don't use a debit card to make purchases online—credit cards offer more comprehensive protection against fraud. It's also smart to limit your online buying to just one card, said Sergey Lozhkin, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab. That makes it easier to monitor for potential problems, and cut off criminals' access if the number is compromised. Some issuers, including Bank of America, still offer temporary card numbers to keep your information safe. 

Secure your devices: Password-protect your phone and computer to thwart prying eyes, Aftab said. If you're not the only one using a device, don't set sites to automatically log in or save passwords. Password-protect any files containing sensitive information. Read more.