As you may have heard, the full database from LinkedIn’s 2012 compromise was posted last month, resulting in more than 150 million additional user logins having been publicized. In light of all these login credentials being leaked from LinkedIn and other services, I wanted to (again) remind everyone of the importance of maintaining secure passwords and also provide some good general guidelines to follow.

Unique Passwords

Never re-use passwords for any reason. Every login that you setup must use an entirely unique password otherwise a compromise of one service compromises your logins for other services. This is becoming more of an issue as these incidents continue to occur. The last thing you want is for an online community compromise to result in the compromise of your email or bank logins.

Limit Access

Do not share your login information with others if it can be avoided. Doing so increases the risk of a compromise significantly since you have no control over how or where that login might be used. If you must provide your login information to a 3rd party you should set a temporary password and then reset it once the 3rd party no longer needs access. Continue reading →