Another day, another account hacked
It seems as if every month or so, you hear about cyber-breaches on the news. It’s not just big businesses like Target or Sally’s Beauty Supply that get hacked. The government has had their accounts hacked. Don’t forget the huge Ashley Madison databreach. In 2012, LinkedIn was hacked, and we’re just now seeing some of the repercussions of that breach.
Everyone is vulnerable
Just recently, it was announced that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked. OurMine Team claimed responsibility for the act, stating they were simply trying to gain awareness of the problem. Twitter has since suspended OurMine’s account, but it isn’t the first time that OurMine has hacked into someone’s account. Markiplier reports that they were hacked in 2012.
OurMine claims they gained Zuckerberg’s credentials though the LinkedIn breach. Just a few months ago, a hacker was selling the information gained in the 2012 breach. That Zuckerberg’s account was hacked is a chilling reminder that no one, no matter how tech savvy is vulnerable to a cyberbreach. You’d think that the CEO of the largest social media network would be safer from account hacking.
What to do?
Zuckerberg quickly regained control of his accounts, but for the layperson it might not happen quite that quick. OurMine certainly meant well, and they could have done a lot more damage than they did. This should be a cue to everyone to update passwords on all their accounts. It’s easy to use the same password for multiple sites, but this is one of the things that got Zuckerberg into trouble.
This is a good site to check and see if your account has been compromised in a breach. It only checks email addresses, not financial data. Try a password manager like Dashline, LastPass, or Sticky Password, which are three of the Editor’s Choices from PC Mag. Upgrade passwords to make them harder to guess. We give you some tips here. Use two-factor authorization for your accounts when it’s available. Be careful clicking on links from your email account that ask you to change the password. Go to the site from a search engine or a bookmark and make sure you’re logging into the secure site.
Changing passwords is a hassle, but you have to be proactive when it comes to your accounts.
#ZuckHacked
Pingback: 25 most common passwords of 2016 (make sure yours isn't one of them!) - The American Genius