Web security is becoming a bigger concern for high-profile sites as there have already been cases of TV station Web sites and social networking accounts getting hacked and having undesirable content posted to them, but there are some easy steps to take in securing your station’s accounts.

The most important thing to remember is no password is unbreakable. The best you can do is create one that’s as strong as possible.
To achieve maximum security, be sure your password is at least eight characters, has at least one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one numeral and one symbol.

Also avoid using words, instead relying in seemingly random characters that, for ease of remembering, can form an acronym for a phrase. Another option is to use words, but replacing certain characters with a symbol or number (such as “a” with “@” or “I” or “1″ with “!”) and by including a capital letter in the middle of the word.

While many IT departments have tightened security and enforce strong password policies, these often don’t extend to online accounts such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube since they don’t tie into corporate computer systems. Instead, users are often forced to share a single log in that, more often than not, posted somewhere in a fairly accessible location.

Tools such as HootSuite and CoTweet allow you to create individual accounts for staffers to post to Twitter, each with a unique password. This way, you don’t need to risk having your master password becoming compromised and if one account is accessed by an unauthorized party, it can easily be changed without having to inform everyone of the change as would be the case with a single login.

Unfortunately, there aren’t as many services that allow this kind of login flexibility for every service out there, so here’s when having a strong password is important. Don’t share passwords via e-mail and instruct employees not to write them down. For maximum security, use a different password for each service. However, it might not be practical to expect staffers to remember multiple passwords. To combat this, you could add a different number to the end of the password. Some people add one or two letters that are inspired by the service name to the end of passwords (such as “yt” for the YouTube password), but this is a bit too predictable.

It’s also important to pull access to accounts or change all passwords immediately after an employee terminates employment with your station.

NewscastTip is a weekly column with tips for your newscasts. See past editions here. The column is available every Friday in our e-mail newsletter and posted here the following Wednesday. Sign up for the newsletter to get it delivered directly to your in box every week.

Michael P. Hill is founder and publisher of NewscastStudio. Contact him with your own tips and feedback.