Time to Change Your Passwords!
Russian Hackers have collected over 1.2 Billion username and passwords along with over 500 Million email addresses from 420,000 websites ranging from small blogs to large fortune 500 companies. This is the largest known security breach and is a reminder that online security is something to pay attention too.
As the NY Times reported, this is just the latest major breach.
- In December of 2013, 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million adrresses, phone numbers and additional pieces of personal information were stolen from retail giant Target.
- In October of 2013 there were over 200 million personal records stolen, such as Social Security Numbers, Credit card data and bank account information.
DYK – Did You Know – Everyday over 30,000 websites will be hacked
How to Protect Yourself
- Change your Passwords on all your online accounts – Since this latest breach has exposed so many people, it is best to change your passwords now.
- Random Passwords – Never use the same password for different online accounts. Hackers will try your username and password combination on various services.
- Strong Passwords – Should contain a minimum of 10 characters, does not contain your username, does not contain a complete word, uses special characters, uses numbers and upper and lower case letters. Sounds hard right? use a password generator to make the process easier. But wait, how can you remember all these tough passwords? Read On
- Password Manager – There are many programs you can use to store your Strong Passwords and you only need to create one Master Password. My recommendations are listed at the end of this article.
- Two Factor Authentication – This is a new feature on many websites that require not only a password but also a special code that is often sent to your phone as another layer of security. This makes it virtually impossible for someone to get into your accounts.
- Change Your Passwords Monthly – This might seem like a ridiculous suggestion, but hackers are getting better at breaching websites. By changing your passwords monthly, you are protecting yourself from any recent breaches.
Password Managers
Browser Based Password Managers – These are provided by your browser. Not recommended!
Recommended Password Manager Below
Dashlane – Click Here