13/06/2021
MANAGING PASSWORDS
So I was just talking to a customer about how their email got hacked and how to avoid it happening again, and thought others might be interested. In this case every person in the customer's contact list received an email from him asking for them to reply ASAP and, of course, the reply didn't go back to the customer but instead went to someone acting like the customer who then proceeded to relate a story to pull the heart-strings and request a electronic iTunes gift card be sent.
Thankfully in this case nobody was suckered into this attempted fraud, but it could have been different. The customer didn't understand how his email got hacked, but after some discussion the reason was obvious: they used the same password for almost everything, from email to bank to purchasing to forum discussions.
Here's the thing: hackers are always trolling the internet looking for vulnerable targets such as websites which may not have the best security. They will then hack such places and this often results in the download of the userids (usually email addresses) and passwords of people who registered on that website. That list will then be added to one of many lists of compromised passwords which are swapped freely over the internet and more specifically the dark web. And if the userid is an email address, guess where the first attempted hack will be attempted!
We all know it is just too much hard work for you and me to have a separate password for every different account/website, but can I suggest that you split your accounts into 2 categories; "Important" and "Unimportant". If you don't care who has access to the account or what they do with it, categorise it as "Unimportant". All others are "Important". For the category "Unimportant" use the same password all you like, but for the "Important" accounts use unique passwords. You can get more sophisticated but for most people this simple solution will suffice.
If you have any other topic you'd like discussed, let me know.
Blueskies, Paul from MicroSource
