It's time to do a digital spring cleaning

Spring cleaning may have you sifting through your closets and crawling through the storage spaces in your home, but tech experts say you should add digital cleaning to your to-do list.

"Just like our homes get crowded with things in the winter, sometimes our digital lives get crowded," Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, told CBS News' Hena Daniels.

Kaiser says a digital spring cleaning can protect your online information all year long.

The first step: Change your passwords.

One of the easiest and most effective ways of keeping hackers from getting access to your online accounts, credit card numbers and personal information is to change your passwords often, and use a different one for each of your logins. Consider spring cleaning a good excuse to go through and bulk up weak passwords.

"Making a better password, making it a little longer, adding a number or symbol is really good," Kaiser advised.

Next: Are you using all those apps on your phone? If not, get rid of them.

"They may have security flaws in them," he cautioned. "So if you are not going to use apps any longer just get rid of them and clean them out."

Another tip: Clean up your online reputation. Delete old photos and posts that are no longer flattering and could give important people -- like potential employers -- the wrong impression. While you're at it, refresh your friends list, making sure people are still relevant to your cyber world.

And finally, don't ignore those update notifications for your software. They could fix a security flaw.

Software companies often issue updates to their products to guard against known issues that allow hackers to invade your computer. "If you haven't made that update to your system, you, in fact, will be vulnerable to the bad guys," said Kaiser.

By taking control of all aspects of your digital world, you will have a safer and more secure online life.