Your donors trust you with their personal information! It's important to keep your account secure by creating and maintaining passwords that are unique and hard to guess. Here are a few best practices for password creation and maintenance.
DO
- Choose a password that is at least 12 characters long and contains upper/lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
- Create passwords that are easy to remember, but hard for others to guess. For example, you could use a phrase such as “I started 8th grade at Lincoln Middle School in 2001” and use the first letter/numeral of each element, like this: “Is8gaLMSi#2001.”
- Change your password periodically.
- Change your password if you suspect your account has been compromised (and send us an email at support@qgiv.com!).
- Consider using a password manager like LastPass (Windows and Mac), which lets you create a different, very strong password for each of your sites. You only have to remember the one password to access the program or secure site that stores your passwords for you.
Please note: This is not an official recommendation in any capacity -- we accept no responsibility for breaches in password management programs. You are ultimately responsible for the security of your password.
- Make sure your devices are secure -- make sure no one is looking over your shoulder while you type, and try not to log in on a public/shared computer. Malicious software, including keyboard loggers that record all of your keystrokes, has been used to steal passwords and other information. To increase security, make sure you’re using up-to-date anti-malware software and that your operating system is current.
DON'T
- Write down your password and keep it in a place that can be accessed by others.
- Send your username and password together through email/chat programs.
- Reuse a previously-used password -- this includes simply adding a number or a special character to the end when it expires.
- Share usernames or passwords with anyone -- only you should be logging in to your account.
- Select the "remember my password" option when asked.
- Use the same password across sites. If someone obtains your password, they could pass it on or use it to break into your accounts at other sites.
- Fall for phishing attacks. Be very careful before clicking on a link asking you to log in, change your password, or provide any other personal information. When in doubt, log on manually by typing what you know to be the site’s URL into your browser window. If you didn't request a password reset, don't click any links. Contact us!
To read more about fraud prevention on donation forms, check out this article.