Basic tips can protect your online accounts.

It doesn’t take much for hackers to gain access to your accounts. They use “bots” which are large collection of multiple computers to scan the internet for vulnerabilities, millions of people at a time.

There’s no reason to be scared, just treat it like driving a car. Drive defensively. Here are some basics:

1) Don’t use the same password. You’ve probably heard this one many times.

2) Create a hard password. We all remember the Spaceball’s routine. “1,2,3,4,5? I have the same combination on my luggage!” Think of pieces of information from your life that hackers wouldn’t have access to.

Anniversary dates, birthdays and home addresses might be more easily accessible than you’d think. Try your childhood pet’s name. Or your favorite high school coach.

Then turn some of the letters into numbers or special characters for extra protection. The usuals are 3 for E and 1 for I. So get more creative. Put a exclamation mark in there, or a colon.

3) Use password managers to organize. Sites like 1Password, Dashlane and Lastpass can store all your passwords. Then you just have to remember one password to access them. They’ll also have security questions to keep your info safe.

4) Never click on a link. Even if you know the email sender. Because hackers can access your friend’s email address and use it to send you the link. Most safe links are from sites you’ll recognize, like Youtube. Try to reverse engineer it: go to the site directly and find the content.

5) NEVER use public Wifi. Hackers use programs that can mirror screens while on the same wifi and see what you do online. Including seeing what you type, like passwords. Your cell phone has a Hotspot feature that can you can link to your laptop or tablet. You can find it in Settings. That way, you can get online using your own phone’s data, which is more secure.