14 DAY TRIAL // This tutorial will allow you to familiarize yourself with the rules one has to follow for keeping a Mac App store account secure. You can make sure that no one will be able to break in to your Mac App Store account by never sending sensitive information to other people, by securely storing and always keeping your recovery information up to date or by never forgetting to sign out of your account when you finished purchasing.
Although not a very long time has passed since the Mac App Store has opened, an increasing number of users are reporting that their accounts have been accessed by someone else.
Some of them report that money is missing from their account, while others say that apps have been purchased using their account without their knowledge.
The best way to avoid such situations is to make sure that you protect your Mac App Store account as much as possible by abiding to a short, but essential, list of practices that will drastically decrease the chances of anyone breaking into your Mac App Store account.
First of all, you should know that Apple published their own set of rules that users should follow for reducing the risk of their App Store accounts being compromised.
According to Apple, App Store users should:
- Never use the same password for multiple accounts (e-mail, App Store, website logins, etc.)
- Avoid passwords used in the past (if someone is able to obtain such passwords, they will be the first they enter when trying to compromise your account)
- Never share your password with anyone, not even family members (you are the one that should ensure your sensitive information’ security; others may not care as much as you do)
- Change your account password as frequently as possible (this can be done from here)
- Always choose a secret question and answer that cannot be easily guessed: if possible think of an answer that might seem totally unrelated to the question (e.g. the question “What is your favorite pet?” and the answer “January 1 2011”). Obscuring your answers is probably the best course of action if you want to completely secure your secret question.
- Always sign out if you no longer have to make any purchases (this is a must if you are using a public or shared computer)
Besides Apple’s tips you may also want to follow the following rules:
- Always make sure that you know exactly what your security question and answer are. If you are the type of person that tends to easily forget such information, make sure that you store it using encryption software or by any other means that will not allow others to access it (the security question and answer, if known, will allow anyone to reset your Apple ID account password using iForgot)
- Always respect the practices presented here while using your associated e-mail account (your associated e-mail can also be used to reset your account’s password with iForgot; to be extra thorough, never let anyone know what your associated e-mail address is)
- [Relevant only for public or shared Macs] Clear the browser's cache, history and cookies (this will prevent people that will use the same computer as you, to login into your account using the information stored by the web browser).
If you will adhere to this basic set of rules, you will do everything you can to help you keep your Mac App Store account secure.
If you have questions or other tips for the readers please leave a comment below.