Password theft

[olrocknroller]

Hi folks. Recently had some heartburn regarding unauthorized transactions on the internet... I foolishly used the same password for for some "casual" sites, like this forum, as I used on a storefront website. I recently had two transactions that I did not authorize... Fortunately, they caught it, and squelched the purchases, but I have been in a full-blown panic tonight changing passwords all over the place!

Word of caution...using the same password for non-finance, unsecure websites as you use on sites where you buy things is not a good idea! Don't know why getting old has to involve so much learning, and heartburn!

[FrankJames]

Thanks for the heads up, it makes a lot of sense to use different pwds for financial institutions, I will be changing mine today.

[SanchoPansen]

Just a short advice: for financial websites, it is also wise to use looooong passwords.
I usually take a whole sentence and replace some letters with numbers (E=3, A=4, S=5, O=0, i=1, etc.).
So pick a sentence you can remember and make it your password. Better safe than sorry!
Looks like this:
S0p1ck4s3nt3nc3y0uc4nr3m3mb3r4ndm4k31ty0urp455w0rd

[Brian]

Just a short advice: for financial websites, it is also wise to use looooong passwords.
I usually take a whole sentence and replace some letters with numbers (E=3, A=4, S=5, O=0, i=1, etc.).
So pick a sentence you can remember and make it your password. Better safe than sorry!
Looks like this:
S0p1ck4s3nt3nc3y0uc4nr3m3mb3r4ndm4k31ty0urp455w0rd

I know that this is a tip. . . but you might be giving away too much info here.

[olrocknroller]

Just a short advice: for financial websites, it is also wise to use looooong passwords.
I usually take a whole sentence and replace some letters with numbers (E=3, A=4, S=5, O=0, i=1, etc.).
So pick a sentence you can remember and make it your password. Better safe than sorry!
Looks like this:
S0p1ck4s3nt3nc3y0uc4nr3m3mb3r4ndm4k31ty0urp455w0rd

Sheesh, that's a LOT of typing! I see the point alright, but I have decided to reduce my internet footprint significantly as well as maintaining my passwords a lot more actively. A lot of accounts have been closed this week!

[SanchoPansen]

Just a short advice: for financial websites, it is also wise to use looooong passwords.
I usually take a whole sentence and replace some letters with numbers (E=3, A=4, S=5, O=0, i=1, etc.).
So pick a sentence you can remember and make it your password. Better safe than sorry!
Looks like this:
S0p1ck4s3nt3nc3y0uc4nr3m3mb3r4ndm4k31ty0urp455w0rd

I know that this is a tip. . . but you might be giving away too much info here.

Don't worry. I don't use this sentence I don't even use this language.

[motiersbad]

sancho your password can be cracked by an algorithmn its not saver :/

My Tip: don't use the same password from forums with other systems like eBay and so on. Forum software is opensource and everyone can look into the source-code of the board and find a way to get your informations

[SanchoPansen]

sancho your password can be cracked by an algorithmn its not saver :/

My Tip: don't use the same password from forums with other systems like eBay and so on. Forum software is opensource and everyone can look into the source-code of the board and find a way to get your informations

The longer the password, the longer it takes to get hacked and the more capacity is needed on the other end (talking brute force only). You could even replace some letters with special characters, e.g. I=! S=$, etc.
What else can we do then? Every password could be hacked, but I think there's a difference in having a password like 'Mosrite' and 'MyP4$$w0rdf0rth1s5!t3c4nn3verb3h4cked'

And you are right, NEVER use a password for homepages AND sites like Ebay and paypal.