Throughout last year and even now, just a few weeks into 2007, the staff has had to assist people in reclaiming their accounts after some carelessness allowed someone else to take control.

The systems we have here at deviantART will keep your account as secure as you allow it to be. I say this because the weakest link in account security is often the user and their habits or their willingness to trust someone else with their private account information.

One of the biggest problems with account security is often a weak password. A “weak” password is one easily guessed by someone who knows you, or knows your habits. For example, if you are an obvious fan of the Harry Potter series of books and movies then using the names of the characters or terms from the books would be considered a weak password which someone could easily guess in a few minutes time.
The best password consists of ten to twelve letters and numbers in a random jumble such as gqo106nsgt3

The second largest problem is that often people forget to logout properly before they leave the computer. A large number of account invasions or account vandalisms are preformed by roommates, family members, classmates, and even complete strangers who were able to sit down at a computer and find that the last person remained logged into their account before walking off.
Always logout from the computer if more than one person has access to it because ultimately you will be held responsible for anything which the account is used for in your absence.

Sharing your password or allowing someone to ‘borrow’ your account is also a bad idea. More than once someone has been shocked to discover what has happened while they allowed a friend to use their account for a little while. Remember that the responsibility for any actions falls squarely on your shoulders as the main account user. Never reveal your password to anyone.

Finally I’d like to speak a little bit about “Phishing”. “Phishing” is a term applied when someone contacts you in an attempt to get you to reveal certain information.

The majority of these scams will attempt to use fear or panic in an attempt to get you to reveal the information they want from you; you receive an official looking email which says your deviantART account will be deleted if you do not visit a certain webpage and ‘verify’ your information by typing in your account information and password, or maybe an "administrator" is warning you of a hacking attempt on your account and your only hope is to let the "administrator" have your password so he can take control and combat the evil hackers or maybe he wants you to change your password to the completely unbreakable sequence of '12345'.

We’ve seen dozens of people over the years try to impersonate official deviantART staff in order to frighten, bully or ‘phish’ for password or private information.

• BEWARE of “deviantART staff” who do not have a symbol beside their user name. Volunteers, Help desk, prints, and Core staff will have @, +, ^, %,©, or $ next to their name. While there are other symbols these ones represent the main levels of staff and volunteers with whom you are most likely to interact.

• REAL staff will never contact you through an Instant Messenger, IRC, or other outside means to request personal information, make demands or issue warnings of any type.

• REAL deviantART staff will never need to ask for your password or email information.

• ALL official deviantART email carries an @deviantART.com email address. You will never receive an official notification of anything from a @gmail, @yahoo, @hotmail or other third party account.

• REPORT any suspicious occurrences to the Community Help Desk. We will let you know if it was legitimate or not: bear in mind that 99% of all official notifications are done on site.

• REMEMBER that no staff member needs to ask for your password or email information.