The LinkedIn password leak is rearing it’s ugly head again – that’s right, again. LinkedIn was hacked back in 2012, where hackers released 6.4 million cracked passwords to the internet. In the past couple of days, the second wave of cracked passwords has hit and the number has grown astronomically to 164.6 million vulnerable, unique passwords. This LinkedIn breach is the largest and most relevant publicly acknowledged password breach in the history of the internet. If you have not changed your LinkedIn password already, it would be a good idea to do so now. Typically, leaked passwords from online accounts are sold on the dark web. You might not care about your LinkedIn password being stolen, but if you are someone who uses similar variations of the same password, or the same password for everything (you shouldn’t do this), hackers have developed complex algorithms that figure out other passwords you may have – this includes bank accounts, which is certainly something that would be concerning to almost anyone. Click here if you’d like to read more about the latest LinkedIn password leak.
The average person typically has around 26 online accounts, and companies such as ourselves usually manage hundreds of online accounts. The best method of security is to find a good password management service or application that you like – let your password manager generate new, random passwords for each of your accounts. If you do notice suspicious activity, change your password immediately, even if you haven’t received a notification or email from that particular service – it’s better to be safe than sorry. Additionally, you can set multi-factor authentication or a two-step verification process to create an extra hurdle for hackers to get through on your most critical online accounts. If you do not want a password management application, or don’t think you need one, our advice is to routinely change passwords to your sensitive social media, email, bank accounts or other online accounts that you may have sensitive, personal information on. This should be done about every 2-3 months to ensure maximum security of your information on the web.
The LinkedIn password leak is just the latest issue in what has seemingly become an industry – the selling and trading of your personal information. Of course, the most powerful, profitable corporations and businesses employ sharing and trading tactics of some personal information to maximize the effectiveness of their reach when spending their advertising dollars – they simply want to know where and who to market to. Password sharing is completely different because it is malicious, and typically these hackers operate overseas so there is little to no oversight done by our own governmental agencies.
Computer Repair in Tyler can help you secure your most sensitive data and give you ideas on how to combat this growing problem. If you think you’d like multi-factor authentication or two-step verification processes set up on your sensitive accounts, we can help you depending on the service – some services allow this and some do not. We can also set up a password management system for you and show you how to use it. If this information is alarming to you and you’d like to take preventative steps, don’t hesitate to call us or stop by today!