If you’re a forgetful person or have too many accounts to keep track of, the ability to reset an account password by typing the answers to a few questions about yourself can be a lifesaver. But there’s a dark side, too: it leaves you vulnerable to social engineering. Or having your Amazon password reset by your 94-year-old dad. [More]
Security Questions Aren’t Very Secure When Your Whole Family Knows The Answers
By May 17, 2013
Facebook Lets You Assign ‘Trusted Contacts’ To Help You Access Your Account After Being Locked Out
By May 2, 2013
Lots of people give an extra set of house keys to close friends or family in case they get locked out. So why not have a similar way of dealing with those times when you’re locked out of your Facebook account? [More]
Someday Your Brain Could Replace All Those Pesky Passwords With “Passthoughts”
By April 8, 2013
There’s perhaps nothing more unique than your brain. And because we don’t yet live in a world where villains can hack into your thoughts (key word: yet), the next innovation in passwords could do away with those typed phrases and combinations of letters, numbers and punctuation and replace them with your thoughts. [More]
Apple Solves iTunes Account Problem By Locking You Out Of Account
By April 16, 2012
Michael was having a pretty minor problem with playing television programs in iTunes. Sure, it doesn’t even rank as the a serious first world problem, but he contacted Apple to get it resolved, because that’s what Apple is supposed to do. A senior representative tried to resolve the problem by resetting his iTunes password. Nice idea if it had worked. It didn’t. Now this cord-cutter, who uses his Apple TV to catch up with favorite shows, can’t watch those shows at all. Being locked out of his iTunes account and all. [More]
Heads Up: Using The Word "Password" In Your Password Is A Terrible Idea
By March 2, 2012
File this one under “D” for “duh” — the easiest way for someone to break into protected accounts is by guessing your password because many of you just use that same word as part of said password. C’mon, people, get a little creative. [More]
How To Create A Strong Password And Remember It
By January 17, 2012
Following the hack of Zappos.com and 6pm.com there are probably quite a few of you looking for a way to create strong passwords and also remember them. Back in December, our safety-conscious friends at Consumer Reports ran a guide to creating strong passwords that are also easy… well, easier, to remember. Here it is. [More]
Facebook Invites You To Name A Few "Trusted Friends"
By October 31, 2011
If you are hyper-paranoid about getting cut off from Facebook and want to allow members of your trusted inner circle to swoop in and help you out when you’re in need, you’re now covered. Facebook is testing a feature called “Trusted Friends” that lets contacts you choose retrieve access codes to pass along to you if you find yourself unable to log on. [More]
Video Of 25,727 Passwords From The Sony Hack, One Per Frame
By July 6, 2011
Stare agog as all the the passwords released in the Sony LulzSec breach race past your eyes in this video. [More]
Website Offers Peace Of Mind About Security Of Your Email Password
By June 29, 2011
Back in my day, I had to walk five miles in the snow to make sure my password was safe, but now, what with all the hacking going on, there are easier ways to check if yours has already been compromised. Like a handy dandy website, for one. [More]
If You Use One Of The Most Common iPhone Passcodes, Stop It
By June 15, 2011
One way to make things easy for identity thieves is to choose an unimaginative, easy-to-remember PIN that tons of other people are using. [More]
Hackers Swipe Emails, Addresses And Passwords From Video Game Site
By June 13, 2011
These are not the best of times to be a gamer who leaves personal information on websites. In addition to the Sony troubles of the past couple months, British game publisher Codemasters has been hacked, leaving emails, addresses and passwords exposed. [More]
Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Bill Making It A Crime To Share Your Netflix Password
By June 1, 2011
If you’ve ever let a friend or family member know your password for subscription services like Netflix or Rhapsody so they can watch a movie or listen to a song, we hope you don’t live in Tennessee, where state legislators have passed a bill making it a crime. [More]
Why Are Financial Companies Forcing Us To Have Weak Passwords?
By April 28, 2011
Your bank or credit card company is probably the last entity you would want forcing you to set an incredibly weak Web password. But it’s not just American Express that wants their customers to use really crappy, easily crackable passwords. Charlie recently discovered that Capital One and, to a lesser extent, Bank of America have limits on their customers’ passwords that force them to choose crappy ones. [More]
Passwords: Why "This Is Fun" Is 10x Safer Than "J4fS!2"
By April 21, 2011
We’re told that the strongest kinds of passwords are the ones like look like an alien tap-danced on your keyboard, but people have a hard time remembering them without writing them down (on a post-it sitting on the desk). But baekdal has written an intriguing post that shows how when defending against a cracker trying to break your password via brute force through a web form, not only is “this is fun” actually memorable and usable than “J4sF!2,” it’s 10 times harder to crack. [More]
Change Your Old Amazon Password Now To Avoid This Cracking Risk
By January 26, 2011
Some old Amazon account appear to have a flaw in their password protection scheme that makes them more vulnerable to a brute force cracking attempt. For affected accounts, if you haven’t changed your password in several years, and it’s over 8 characters long, it looks like all people have to do is enter the first 8 characters correctly and they’re in. Even if after the 8 characters they just type gobbledygook. [More]
How Does The Gawker Privacy Leak Concern Consumerist Users?
By December 13, 2010
If you’ve got an account on Gawker.com or any of its sister sites (Kotaku, Gizmodo, Deadspin and Jezebel among others), you’ll probably want to change your passwords because anonymous hackers have swiped usernames, email addresses and passwords and made them available via a torrent file. And by change your password, we potentially mean all of them. Now. [More]
The Password Is Dead
By November 4, 2010
It’s not going to be too long before you’ll have to have your face scanned before you can open your email, at the rate the password cracking arms race is going. [More]
Help! My Gmail Account Was Hacked! How Do I Clean This Up?
By October 12, 2010
Reader Lisa would like to ask the Consumerist hive mind for advice on cleaning up her recently hacked Gmail account. Here’s her story: [More]
