Can we talk about how my dad's old password advice is suddenly dangerous?

I was at a coffee shop on Elm Street last weekend and overheard a guy say he uses his dog's name from 1999 for everything. That made me think about how my dad always told me to use the same 8 character password for every account back in the early 2000s. He said it was easier to remember. Now with all these data breaches and password managers, that advice is like leaving your front door wide open. I switched to a manager app after my email got hacked 2 years ago, but has anyone else had to unlearn old habits from family members who meant well?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahs456d ago

Man I totally used to think everyone was overreacting about password reuse, but seeing how often leaks happen now really flipped my thinking on that.

xena_fox397d ago

oh man, my dad gave me the exact same advice and I still have to fight the urge to use "fluffy2001" for everything. it was such a different time, nobody thought about hackers stealing databases or anything. my wake up call was when my old school email got compromised and someone tried to buy gift cards with it. my mom still uses the same password she made up in like 2003 and I keep telling her to change it but she just laughs it off. it's wild how something that seemed so genius back then is basically a welcome mat for trouble now.

adam_lewis6d ago

Actually, @xena_fox39, I kind of disagree with the panic around reused passwords. A strong password cracked is still a strong password cracked regardless of how many accounts it's on, and honestly most hacking attempts target people with weak ones anyway. Your mom might have the right idea if her password is actually decent and she just keeps using it on important accounts with two-factor turned on.