It\u2019s a mistake too many of us make. We get lazy, and we depend upon just one single password to access several different Web sites. This, though, is a unsafe strategy. A recent story by ars technica on a serious password breach at daily deals site LivingSocial.com explains just why this is.<\/p>\n
Hacked<\/b><\/p>\n
According to the story, hackers were able to get access to the password information of up to 50 million users of LivingSocial. This breach gave hackers access to the names and e-mail addresses, too, of these users. Needless to say, a lot of LivingSocial users went scurrying to switch their passwords.<\/p>\n
Too Little, Too Late?<\/b><\/p>\n
After the breach, Tim O\u2019Shaughnessy, chief executive officer of LivingSocial.com, recommended the site\u2019s users change the passwords they use to gain access to the deals site. He also recommended that users change any passwords which they use to access other sites that are the same or similar to what they use to log into LivingSocial. This, as ars technica reports, is a bit of an understatement. If you use a similar password to log onto Netflix, LivingSocial.com and your online bank, stop reading this article and immediately change these passwords. And do yourself a favor \u2014 never reuse a password from one site at another.<\/p>\n
A Hassle, But Important<\/b><\/p>\n
It can be challenging to recall dozens of passwords. And there are times when you just want to log onto a site with a password that you\u2019ve used lots of times before because it\u2019s easier than creating, and writing down, a brand-new access code. Don\u2019t fall prey to this temptation. If a hacker cracks your password at one site, it\u2019s not overly hard for this cyber criminal to use the same one to gain access to your other Web sites, too, if you\u2019re too lazy to create unique passwords at different sites. Yes, passwords are fallible. Even so the more creative you are with them \u2014 and this includes creating separate passwords for each and every site you visit \u2014 the better off you\u2019ll be.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a mistake too many of us make. We get lazy, and we depend upon just one single password to access several different Web sites. This, though, is a unsafe strategy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n