In response to the news that Newsnow, a popular news aggregator service, has suffered a data breach, please see below comments from Jake Moore, security specialist at ESET.
Jake Moore, Security Specialist at ESET:
“Hackers are far too keen to attempt using stolen passwords across other online accounts which will soon become compromised as well.
As passwords here have been taken that are connected with email usernames, it drives home the fact that no one should use the same password for more than one account. We always ensure people have a strong complex password on any accounts but especially your email accounts. Please note that strength of a password is determined by its length and therefore shouldn’t be the default minimum length neither should it be related to you. We therefore advise that your passwords are made up of three unrelated words and not “yourcatsname.1”
The safer way to use unique passwords is by using a password manager. Using a password manager means you don’t have to remember the ridiculous amount of passwords we all need to have any sort of internet presence. You no longer have to use the same password everywhere, or use memorable facts such as your cat’s name. Since the password manager takes care of the remembering part, every password can be a long, totally random ton of characters. The strength is in complex length so brute-force password crackers would simply take too long.“
