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Password theft
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:04 pm
by 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!

Re: Password theft
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:02 am
by 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.
Re: Password theft
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:18 am
by 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
Re: Password theft
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 1:20 pm
by Brian
SanchoPansen wrote: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.
Re: Password theft
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 6:27 pm
by olrocknroller
SanchoPansen wrote: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!
Re: Password theft
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:04 am
by SanchoPansen
Brian wrote:SanchoPansen wrote: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.
Re: Password theft
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:13 am
by 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
Re: Password theft
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:28 am
by SanchoPansen
motiersbad wrote: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.