Why Reusing Passwords is a Bad Thing

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Establish a Safe Password Policy…

We have all ready about the massive data breaches and security scares that impact millions of web users.  In fact many breaches are caused by one seemingly innocent common factor: computer and mobile device users reuse their passwords on multiple websites at an alarmingly high rate.

Many users have come upon what they believe is an excellent solution. Why not just use the same password on every site or service they access? The problem of remembering all of those passwords is instantly solved!
Think it’s not you? Want to get a bit of a shock? Put your email address into the Have I Been Pwned? website and see if your account has been compromised in any of the numerous data breaches reported over the last few years.

I tried each of my numerous email addresses one by one and found I was more surprised when an email address proved NOT to have been affected by a breach, rather than having been affected by one.

have I

Not good results when there are solutions available. I have written about this and Password Management before. If you want more convincing read this excellent piece by Bill Hess the founder of Pixel Privacy.

Best way to avoid password reuse

There’s and app for that. Use a dedicated Password Management Tool. I also wrote about using a management tool back in 2013, the fundamentals are still the same. There are a number of players in this market and more tools built into Chrome and Safari. However I still like LastPass even thought ownership has changed. It still offers a great solution at a great price.

lastpass

2FA

And lastly use Two-Factor Authentication Where Available

I have found that two-factor authentication (2FA) is one of the best methods available to protect your accounts from being hacked, even if you were silly enough to use the same login credentials on multiple websites.

Accounts that are protected by two-factor authentication require two ingredients to authorise access to the accounts. It has been best described as making use of something you know (your account password), and something you have (such as your smartphone).

Conclusion

Don’t Reuse Passwords

Only Use Secure Passwords

Use a Password-Management Tool

Add 2FA when possible

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