Passwords News

Expert advice: Why a strong password makes sense By Tim Sandle People's password habits matter. Passwords are important gatekeepers to protect online identities. This provides entryways to allow people to shop online, access financial details, and utilize social media.

Billions of passwords available on underground forums Special By Tim Sandle Billions of passwords, which can be potentially matches to some of the owners when connected with email addresses, are located on the dark web, according to a new cybersecurity inquiry.

Is it time for passwords to become a thing of the past? Special By Tim Sandle According to analyst Be Goodman, while passwords have been around many years, they are the ultimate lose-lose. They simultaneously provide a poor user experience and represent a tremendous security risk for all users and their employers.

Post-COVID-19 working: The end of passwords? Special By Tim Sandle Many changes are afoot in the post-COVID-19 world, especially in relation to ways of working and with issues surrounding cybersecurity. In out second special feature, we hear from Robert Prigge.

How strong is your password? Key advice for world password day Special By Tim Sandle May 7 is the annual World Password Day, an event designed to remind people of the importance of having strong passwords. The extension of remote working has made the importance of effective credentials even more important.

Billions of email addresses exposed online Special By Tim Sandle Comparitech researchers in collaboration with security research Bob Diachenko found more than 2.7 billion email addresses in an open, unprotected online database. Looks into the issue.

Q&A: Are biometrics essential for cybersecurity? Special By Tim Sandle Passwords continue to instill the most confidence in its ability to protect against identity theft and online fraud, based on a new survey. However, biometrics is on the rise. How should businesses adapt?

Google has stored some user passwords in plain text since 2005 By Tim Sandle Google's latest data breach concerns the revelation that G Suite user passwords have been stored in plaintext since 2005, opening up cybersecurity concerns. This impacts upon a small number of enterprise customers.

Timely best practice reminders for World Password Day By Tim Sandle May 2 is the annual date when businesses and the general public are reminded to review their passwords and ensure their systems are secure - the aptly named World Password Day. Digital Journal presents some best practice tips.

New analysis of passwords reveals too many that are easy to crack By Tim Sandle How much have people learned from the high-profile hacking stories that seem to appear with increasing regulatory? Not so much if a new review of the simplicity of passwords is anything to go by.

Facebook internally exposed millions of passwords By Tim Sandle A security researcher has discovered that the passwords of millions of Facebook users have been accessible by up to 20,000 employees of the social network, resulting in a major internal security lapse.

Amazon and Wikipedia still giving poor password advice By Tim Sandle Plymouth - A decade of research shows that little improvement has been made in the guidance given by leading websites in relation to security and for the protection of privacy data.

Apple confirms 'really bad' bug that lets anyone access your Mac By James Walker Apple's confirmed that it's rushing to prepare a fix for a critical issue found in its latest macOS High Sierra update. A bug in the operating system's authentication code allows anyone to log in as an administrator by typing a blank password.

OneLogin password manager breached, user data decrypted By James Walker Popular password management service OneLogin has reported a serious breach of its security systems which may have allowed attackers to access user data. The company told its customers that the perpetrators could have decrypted stored passwords.

Researchers create AI to help you choose stronger passwords By James Walker Cybersecurity researchers have created a new password strength meter that provides actionable tips informing you how to create safer passwords. Backed by artificial intelligence and new algorithms, the team wants to help people make better choices.

'123456' leads the worst passwords of 2016 By James Walker A list of the worst passwords of 2016 has been revealed by a cybersecurity company. Unsurprisingly, the top 10 still consists of strings of sequential characters, phrases from the top of the keyboard and repeated groups of letters.

Opera resets passwords of 1.7m users after 'server breach' By James Walker Opera has informed users of its Opera Sync browser synchronisation service that they need to reset their passwords. The company said it has detected an attack on its systems which may have allowed hackers to steal user passwords and account information.

117 million LinkedIn accounts stolen in 2012 now for sale online By James Walker Nearly four years after LinkedIn was hacked, the site has now confirmed that over 117 million accounts were affected. The number is vastly more than was previously indicated. The findings came to light after the data was found for sale on the dark web.

1 billion email accounts offered for sale on the dark web for $1 By James Walker A lone hacker is selling over a billion email usernames and passwords for only a dollar on the Russian dark web, according to a report. The majority of the accounts are for Mail.ru, Russia's most popular provider, but some cover Google and Microsoft.

Time Warner Cable: Up to 320,000 email passwords possibly stolen By Megan Hamilton Time Warner Cable Inc. reported Wednesday that email passwords for up to 320,000 customers may have been stolen. The company also said it hasn't determined how the information was harvested, but there no indications of a breach at Time Warner Cable.

New password system replaces words with pictures and icons By James Walker A group of security researchers have created a potential password replacement system that uses memorable patterns, pictures and codes instead of the traditional phrase or string of characters. The system is supposed to be easier to use than passwords.

Amazon adds two-factor authentication for stronger security By James Walker With Black Friday nearly upon us, shoppers on Amazon will be able to enjoy some extra security protection this holiday season as the company has finally introduced two-factor authentication support to its website.

Academic researcher publishes 10 million usernames and passwords By Business Insider A security analyst and hacking author just published 10 million web usernames and passwords in the name of academic research.

Dropbox breached, 6 million usernames and passwords stolen By James Walker Four hundred usernames and passwords for Dropbox accounts gathered from users have been posted online in plain text format with an assurance that over 6 million more have also been collected.

Hackers use weak passwords too By Ryan Hite Hackers may seem like the kinds of people who are very well apt with securing their computers, but research shows that they actually are not.

Twitter resets thousands of passwords by accident By Tim Sandle Twitter sent out a message to thousands of users telling them to change their passwords because their accounts had been "compromised". The firm has now admitted that the emails were sent by mistake.

'Password' no longer the Internet's worst password By AFP Washington - The number sequence "123456" has overtaken "password" as the most common worst password among Internet users, an online security firm says.

2 million Facebook, Twitter and Gmail accounts compromised By Al Boe Around 2 million Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts were compromised by hackers in the past month, according to a new report.

Google Chrome security flaw exposes your saved passwords By John Simon Ritchie A Google Chrome flaw found by software designer Elliot Kember allows anyone with access to your computer to find out all of your saved passwords with very little effort.

PayPal's security officer says passwords should be obliterated By Owen Weldon PayPal's security boss said that he would like to see a better way for people to gain access to their internet accounts.

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