Reset Your Passwords

There were rumours flying around last weekend that possibly a few of us had our usernames and passwords compromised.  Before I carry on, I would like to state clearly, that I DO NOT believe in a minute that this was the case.  However, it did make me question the security of my usernames and passwords.  Mine ‘were’ not all the same but did have similarities and I think many of us do it as it’s a nightmare trying to remember them all.

When I first heard this I quickly rang a mate of mine who runs several very large discussion forums (Craft Juice – All thing Handmade) to see if this was possible and his reply was ‘of course it is, as you are submitting your details to the person’s server!’  I could almost hear him shaking his head.  However, he did say for a person to do this they had to be malicious, be technically savvy and really hell bent on doing it.

It may be a no brainer to a lot of you but I thought I’d pass on a couple of tips he shared with me.

1.)    Never, ever, ever use the same password twice

2.)    Do not use real words – apparently people can run scripts that can work it out

3.)    Combinations of letters and numbers are the best

4.)    The best passwords are the ones that you get when you first register with people.  You know the super long gibberish ones with loads of letters and numbers.  Keep it and don’t change it to something easier.  You can always ask Windows to remember it for you.

5.)    Lastly, for goodness sake make a record of them all. I spent 20 minutes changing all mine last night and it’s taking me a bit to remember them all but at least I feel a helluva lot more secure.

So, off you go and get changing them!

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