Password Advice (1 Viewer)

[Yelena_Belova]

Hello! So, I have some bad news. I found out recently that some people have been hacking into my accounts on various websites, which is not good. Thankfully, they appear to have not done anything on them, such as posting on them or using them for suspicious things, so that's good. Nonetheless, last year, I got two emails back in late December or early January I think that both my Discord and someplace else (I forget where) were logged into and it wasn't by me, and just now, I got another one that my Tumblr was hacked into as well (I don't think I have an official account there, but I sign in with my gmail account and use it to get gifs and pictures to use for my aesthetics). Those are just the ones I know about, there could very well be more for all I know and those are just the only places that warned me.

Anyway, I previously made one decent strength password I think, and then used similar copies and variations across all the different places online that I'm on, so that I'd never risk forgetting my password and getting locked out. I've had that happen before too and it sucks. I never thought I'd get hacked into so much, because it just seemed like one of those things that happens to other people, but you don't think it'll actually happen to you until it does. To prevent this from happening in the future, I plan on changing all my passwords online, just to be safe, and making each a completely random one (like an AI generated one or something). I think that's the best thing to do at this point.

This leads me to a few questions though:

1) How often should I update my passwords? I heard that once every six months is good before. Is that a good rule of thumb, or should they be changed more or less frequently than that?

2) With them all being randomly generated soon, how should I keep track of them? Is it a good idea to save them to my devices, or is that too risky of an idea, in case someoneelse steals them and then can easilylog into everything? Should I write them down on pen and paper and store them somewhere instead (and hope it doesn't get lost)?

3) I previously tried using a free password manager (I forget which one), to help me keep track of which passwords were for which places and to automatically put them in for me and stuff like that. However, it was confusing and didn't work for me at all. Does anyone have any password managers (if you use/used one) that worked well and they would recommend? On top of that, is using one a good idea, or not worth it?

4) Lastly, any other password advice you have for me to prevent something like this from happening again?

Thanks so much in advance. I really hope this stops soon and doesn't continue anymore. Have a great day/night!

 

[ChiaraStar169]

you should get Chrome, it autosaves your passwords and suggests randomized ones that you won't have to remember

 

[Yelena_Belova]

you should get Chrome, it autosaves your passwords and suggests randomized ones that you won't have to remember

Good idea, I might check it out. Thanks! I use Chrome on my phone, but any random browser on the computer or my laptop.

 

[motorp77]

I like bitwarden and keepassxc

 

[Yelena_Belova]

I like bitwarden and keepassxc

Thanks, I'll check those out.

 

[motorp77]

The most insane way for passwords is one friend who literally learned 10 different 40 completely random passwords on the 70 characters alphabet. Literally impossible to beat. But yeah bitwarden is really good and completely open source

 

[ani07]

you should not save passwords on any device. I use a notebook to keep track.

also, you can use this website. maybe u can find out anything

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email address has been exposed in a data breach

Search tens of billions of breached records, monitor corporate domains via API, and get alerted when credentials are exposed. Trusted by security teams, MSSPs, and government agencies worldwide.

haveibeenpwned.com

 

[Yelena_Belova]

The most insane way for passwords is one friend who literally learned 10 different 40 completely random passwords on the 70 characters alphabet. Literally impossible to beat. But yeah bitwarden is really good and completely open source

That is very impressive! Incredible. I don't have that kind of memory though. If I did, a lot of things would be a lot easier for me.

 

[Yelena_Belova]

you should not save passwords on any device. I use a notebook to keep track.

also, you can use this website. maybe u can find out anything

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email address has been exposed in a data breach

Search tens of billions of breached records, monitor corporate domains via API, and get alerted when credentials are exposed. Trusted by security teams, MSSPs, and government agencies worldwide.

haveibeenpwned.com

Sounds good, thanks! I'm really glad I made this thread first then before doing that. That is a good recommendation, I'll check out that website too.

 

[motorp77]

you should not save passwords on any device. I use a notebook to keep track.

also, you can use this website. maybe u can find out anything

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email address has been exposed in a data breach

Search tens of billions of breached records, monitor corporate domains via API, and get alerted when credentials are exposed. Trusted by security teams, MSSPs, and government agencies worldwide.

haveibeenpwned.com

works for big data breach only

 

[Yelena_Belova]

you should not save passwords on any device. I use a notebook to keep track.

also, you can use this website. maybe u can find out anything

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email address has been exposed in a data breach

Search tens of billions of breached records, monitor corporate domains via API, and get alerted when credentials are exposed. Trusted by security teams, MSSPs, and government agencies worldwide.

haveibeenpwned.com

None of my emails addresses have been pwned, so that's a relief at least. The problem is probably not with them then.

 

[ani07]

works for big data breach only

its still good to know though. my old email was breached once, after that my fb acc was hacked and someone posted child porn on my fb acc. after that my netflix acc was hacked too because I forgot to change the pw after the fb hack.

 

[motorp77]

None of my emails addresses have been pwned, so that's a relief at least. The problem is probably not with them then.

yeah it would be good to find where you they got access to your accounts. What password manager were you using previously ?

 

[_Sammy_]

Yes I have Google Chrome

 

[Yelena_Belova]

yeah it would be good to find where you they got access to your accounts. What password manager were you using previously ?

It would be, I agree. I just assumed that they found random accounts to hack into online for who knows what reason and mine were some of them. Maybe they found them via Google searches, or stumbling upon my posts? I'm not really sure.

I wish I could remember, but I don't. I used it for less than a day before deleting it though because it was so confusing for me and I couldn't figure it out. This was also several months ago, and I haven't tried another one since then yet.

 

[motorp77]

It would be, I agree. I just assumed that they found random accounts to hack into online for who knows what reason and mine were some of them. Maybe they found them via Google searches, or stumbling upon my posts? I'm not really sure.

I wish I could remember, but I don't. I used it for less than a day before deleting it though because it was so confusing for me and I couldn't figure it out. This was also several months ago, and I haven't tried another one since then yet.

if you don't use password manager regularly 1password is probably better as it is easier to use.