Use a strong password!

[Robg2]

I’m the guy formerly known as RobG. As you might remember, I was hacked and the hacker posted some very expensive gear for sale. Thank goodness some people know me well enough to suspect it was a scam so nobody took the bait.

My password was moderately strong, with letters and numbers, but phonetically it sounded like a common word repeated. It was also only 8 characters long, like old-school passwords were. I guess that was its shortfall.

I figured it was good enough, thinking it wouldn’t matter if I was hacked since I had no financial information on this site. It didn’t occur to me that they could use my trusted status to scam someone else.

I also lost my history, which I miss more than I thought.

At work, the IT guys would set me up with passwords that were a combination of easy to remember words and numbers and symbols, so I recommend doing the same, or a long list of numbers, letters and symbols.

I also know someone, who can identify himself if he wants, that had his facebook hacked. He had a hell of a time getting it fixed, and the hacker was posting BS that would hurt his reputation and business.

So use a strong password!

 

[homers]

Use a password manager

 

[Robg2]

Use a password manager

I’m leery of those things, but could be wrong. Although they prevent some things, what happens if someone gains access to your computer?

 

[Lostinthewoods]

I’m the guy formerly known as RobG. As you might remember, I was hacked and the hacker posted some very expensive gear for sale. Thank goodness some people know me well enough to suspect it was a scam so nobody took the bait.

My password was moderately strong, with letters and numbers, but phonetically it sounded like a common word repeated. It was also only 8 characters long, like old-school passwords were. I guess that was its shortfall.

I figured it was good enough, thinking it wouldn’t matter if I was hacked since I had no financial information on this site. It didn’t occur to me that they could use my trusted status to scam someone else.

I also lost my history, which I miss more than I thought.

At work, the IT guys would set me up with passwords that were a combination of easy to remember words and numbers and symbols, so I recommend doing the same, or a long list of numbers, letters and symbols.

I also know someone, who can identify himself if he wants, that had his facebook hacked. He had a hell of a time getting it fixed, and the hacker was posting BS that would hurt his reputation and business.

So use a strong password!

I’ve always created oddity combos to start off and end my password. I do it with my question answers as well.

Question: your favorite color
Bad answer: Red
Good answer: 87$$Red$$78

 

[Chingon]

Admins here should just impose 2 factor authentication.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

Also good to check if your accounts have been compromised in a known breach by checking the site: Have I been Pwned. Also don't reuse passwords on multiple sites.

 

[homers]

I’m leery of those things, but could be wrong. Although they prevent some things, what happens if someone gains access to your computer?

don't understand why getting access to your computer has anything to do with password manager. Cloud based, highly secure with access via one highly complex master password. Lastpass, Bitwarden, 1Password, Proton Pass, etc.

 

[Exhausted]

Also good to check if your accounts have been compromised in a known breach by checking the site: Have I been Pwned. Also don't reuse passwords on multiple sites.

This is a difficult thing. I probably have dozens of different secure sites between work and personal stuff. I’ve forgotten passwords more times than I’d like to count.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

This is a difficult thing. I probably have dozens of different secure sites between work and personal stuff. I’ve forgotten passwords more times than I’d like to count.

This is where a password manager shines. I agree, it is a pain though.

 

[Robg2]

don't understand why getting access to your computer has anything to do with password manager. Cloud based, highly secure with access via one highly complex master password. Lastpass, Bitwarden, 1Password, Proton Pass, etc.

I guess that makes sense. My concern was that if someone got access to my computer they’d only have to guess one password to access all my sensitive stuff.

 

[Robg2]

I’ve always created oddity combos to start off and end my password. I do it with my question answers as well.

Question: your favorite color
Bad answer: Red
Good answer: 87$$Red$$78

Yes, an answer more in line with what the IT folks were giving me would be:
87$$Red-Forwarding-Lettuce. Multiple long unrelated words that are easy to remember. This is all good info.

 

[Exhausted]

I guess that makes sense. My concern was that if someone got access to my computer they’d only have to guess one password to access all my sensitive stuff.

Use a password manager that has a secondary authentication (fingerprint, authenticator app, etc)

 

[MTGomer]

all of the advice here is good. My QuickBooks was hacked last week via my bookkeeper and accountants connected QuickBooks
In a matter of minutes the scammers applied for a line of credit, set up a fake vendor and initiated a 39,000+ dollar ACH.
I was able to get it all shut down and reversed but it was a fairly sophisticated hack.