10 billion passwords have been leaked on a hacker site. Are you at risk?

[chuck83]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/10-billion-passwords-leaked-hacker-211209320.html

 

Be careful friends. It's not the day and age to use the same password for everything anymore. Websites that are a necessary for your life should have different passwords and security questions. Passwords should be randomized with special characters and more than 15 characters in most cases. Password manager work, offline vaults are best. Two-Factor or Multi-Factor Authentication (2FA/MFA: Text or Email Code, Google Authenticator, RSA Key, etc) are always recommended where accepted.

Edited July 12 by chuck83

[chuck83]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/12/business/att-customers-massive-breach/index.html

 

Definitely not a good time for technology. Highlights the great power in the things we creative but lack the foresight to understand the depth of the potential for possibility. 

[Jarred]

This would affect SMS and MMS messages when it comes to texting.  If you are using an iPhone, most of your messages will go through iMessage, which is encrypted end-to-end. so those messages would not be compromised.  Of course, if you have to send an SMS message from an iPhone, it could still be at risk.

 

For Android users, if they are using RCS, it also encrypts the text end-to-end, so those messages should not be exposed, but again for SMS/MMS messages, those would be exposed.

 

This is a good reason why a lot of the friends use Whatsapp for their messaging needs, which is end-to-end encrypted.  However, nothing is 100% secure.

Edited July 12 by Jarred

[New World Explorer]

Will this do? (Dots are entries only know to me) 

 

Donut....hytyk$Qc... Donut.....993 ndig557sclR%a%tRR ss ...notdonut.....ormabethereisdonutsomwhere...67xmtoalQV49gn28dfjr8778hfhsvtr8....ha.

[Mike047]

We use Dashlane as our password management software

[Patience87]

5 hours ago, Mike047 said:

We use Dashlane as our password management software

The company I work for uses Dashlane as well. It's not my favorite program for passwords. I use 1password myself for personal use. I like it better than Dashlane. But either way using password software is a good idea. You only have to remember one password and you have access to your passwords on all your devices. Been using them for years. I don't have to worry about password data breaches, and I don't have to go change all my passwords on every website because I never use the same password.

 

My mom has been using it as well, but I've been trying to convert my husband and he refuses. Puts it in his phone notes... And then when we need one of his passwords, he can't find it or has the wrong one. Sigh! I also have a friend who uses the same password over and over and I cautioned her against that. She said oh well I've been doing it this long and it hasn't been a problem. 🙄 I hope they don't have to learn the hard way. - Prov 22:3.

[chuck83]

12 hours ago, New World Explorer said:

Will this do? (Dots are entries only know to me) 

 

Donut....hytyk$Qc... Donut.....993 ndig557sclR%a%tRR ss ...notdonut.....ormabethereisdonutsomwhere...67xmtoalQV49gn28dfjr8778hfhsvtr8....ha.

 

It'll take a long time with current computers. When quantum computing is a thing probably instantly. ☺️

 

[Pabo]

11 hours ago, chuck83 said:

 

It'll take a long time with current computers. When quantum computing is a thing probably instantly. ☺️

 

 

Now how many zeros come after the 26?

[BLEmom]

Yep just got a notification yesterday someone from another country tried to log into my Amazon account. Thankfully it requires a code sent to my email to actually get in. I just changed my password on that account. 
 

Has anyone gone through their iPhone passwords and changed all the ones it says have been leaked?  Is there an easy or efficient way to do this?

[chuck83]

6 hours ago, BLEmom said:

Yep just got a notification yesterday someone from another country tried to log into my Amazon account. Thankfully it requires a code sent to my email to actually get in. I just changed my password on that account. 
 

Has anyone gone through their iPhone passwords and changed all the ones it says have been leaked?  Is there an easy or efficient way to do this?

 

I changed my Apple password last year. Took some time with each device. Especially iMessage. It seems to get weird. But there is not truly easy way.

[dljbsp]

8 hours ago, BLEmom said:

Has anyone gone through their iPhone passwords and changed all the ones it says have been leaked?

 

The passwords leaked from AT&T were specifically related to their systems and accounts, not the passwords stored on individual iPhones. Passwords saved on your iPhone, such as those for apps or websites, are stored securely using Apple’s encryption and are not connected to AT&T’s systems. Therefore, this breach does not affect the passwords or accounts on your iPhone. For added security, it’s always a good idea to change any AT&T-related passwords and enable two-factor authentication where possible.

 

The problem you you had with Amazon is just coincidental.

 

Edited July 14 by dljbsp

[Osprey]

Somehow WhatsApp being owned by Meta (Facebook owner) now does not give me a good feeling about privacy. I wonder why...

[chuck83]

3 hours ago, dljbsp said:

 

The passwords leaked from AT&T were specifically related to their systems and accounts, not the passwords stored on individual iPhones. Passwords saved on your iPhone, such as those for apps or websites, are stored securely using Apple’s encryption and are not connected to AT&T’s systems. Therefore, this breach does not affect the passwords or accounts on your iPhone. For added security, it’s always a good idea to change any AT&T-related passwords and enable two-factor authentication where possible.

 

The problem you you had with Amazon is just coincidental.

 

 

Unless you made your Apple, Google, Amazon, etc password the same as your AT&T. 

[Witness1970]

I got a message that my email and password were found on a certain site.  I looked at it.  My email was there.  The password only showed 4 characters.  That was enough to tell me I had nothing to worry about on that one.  I have never used those 4 characters on any password.

[Witness1970]

11 hours ago, chuck83 said:

 

Unless you made your Apple, Google, Amazon, etc password the same as your AT&T. 

All my passwords are unique.  The longest password I have is 21 characters.  One website only allowed for a maximum of 10 characters.  That one was the hardest password for me to come up with.  Fortunately they later changed it to between 8 and 255 characters.  That made it easier for me.  Short passwords are the hardest for me to create.

[Bart1044]

I see that no one has mentioned the use of a passphrase instead of a password. I ask myself which is easier to remember.  This is just an example "ioa4y5u8943!!" or "00IwillalwaystrustinJehovah!." Not only is it longer but way easier to remember and it can be a daily reminder of your belief in Jehovah. I also use password managers so I only "have to" remember a few passwords. Most websites do let you have long passwords and even though you may think that the longer one is easier to crack because you can read it, it is not. It is easier for you to remember and harder for a computer to crack. Never reuse passwords between sites. Think of how many sites that have your email as your username. If you also use the same password between them then all those accounts should be considered to be compromised.