Keep a Record of Your Log Ins
Over the many years we have been in business, a recurring problem has been clients who don’t have a record of the logins for the various pieces and parts of their Internet properties. This includes access to their domain name records, their Web host account, FTP account for their Web host, and so forth. This usually becomes an issue when a problem arises and someone with the knowledge of how to fix that problem needs access to one of those pieces.
We have always provided our Web hosting clients with a summary of these various logins when we setup their Web host account. However, many times features get added later, or their strategy dictates that other tools are pressed into service at a later date, and those additional items never get added to the list. We make it a major priority of ours to maintain those logins for our clients as we encounter them, but we don’t always encounter all of them; sometimes others are handling these issues.
Our Record Sheet is a Handy Start
To help prevent the difficulties that come with not having this information we have created an Internet Properties Record Sheet that you can use to record all these various pieces of information for all the components of your Internet properties. We have it available here for you. We have to admit that we saw this same idea of the record sheet put out there by someone else, but it was several months ago and we do not have a record of who. Otherwise I would give them credit here. If I find the info, I will update it here.
Our sheet includes several items that were not on the the original that we saw. However, an idea that was part of that previous offering is incorporated here. That is the fact that this record sheet is offered as a PDF document; the idea being that you download it, print it, and complete it with a good old fashioned pencil (remember that you should update the passwords periodically). The important reason for doing this is security; there is no electronic copy lurking in the depths of your devices that can be found and put to nefarious use by someone other than you. So you complete the sheet by hand, then archive it in a locking file cabinet, a safe, a safe deposit box, or someplace similarly safe where nobody else can access it. This is because it contains all the information necessary to take complete and total control of all your Internet properties. Think for a second about how much damage this could cause…
There are a number of items on the list that may not apply to your Internet presence situation. There are also a number of items that you may not understand. This is all intended to have you think carefully about what Internet properties you have and exactly what information you need to access them. If necessary contact the people you work with that have this access information and get it from them so the you have a record of it yourself. Your Internet properties are yours. Make sure you have the keys to them, just as you have the keys to your own house!
I am sure that we’ve left some things out, so we will update this as that becomes apparent. We also welcome your comments on things we may left out, or good ideas we have not covered. In the meantime, use our Internet Properties Record Sheet it to get yourself organized and to be ready for that inevitable problem.