Have You Been Pwnd?

​I never say never, but, today I will! NEVER use one password on more than one site!  All it takes is for one of those sites to be breached, and you're vulnerable!  Out there on the dark web, there are bots that can take a list of breached email addresses and passwords from weak website, and plug the combination into a myriad of other websites that are commonly used, such as Paypal, Amazon, Uber, etc.  And if your actual gmail or yahoo is a match, now they even can jump past the email verification and reset your passwords in on other sites.  Re-using passwords in today's day and age leaves you dangerously exposed, more than you may realize!  
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What sites can be breached? It can happen to the best of them, as it happened to CRA in 2020!  

Remember when you were young and used the same password for your Myspace, Geocities, and ICQ?  And that crappy coupon website?  And every other online account you’ve ever created?  If this sounds familiar, maybe you should check out “Have I Been Pwned” to see what sites we know have been hacked, and if your email address happens to be on any of them.   

The word "pwned" has origins in video game culture and is a leetspeak derivation of the word "owned", due to the proximity of the "o" and "p" keys. It's typically used to imply that someone has been controlled or compromised, for example "I was pwned in the Adobe data breach".  www.haveibeenpwned.com is a website that was created by Troy Hunt as a free source for anyone to quickly assess if they may have been put at risk due to an online account of theirs having been compromised or "pwned" in a data breach.  If your email was part of a breach in the last 20 years, you can find out if it's on any of the lists that are out there by searching for your email address on this helpful website!  

Password Managers Are No Longer An Option

To stay safe in this current time, that is, to have unique passwords for every online login, Password Managers are no longer just an option, they are a necessity.  Check out PC Mag's top picks for Password Managers in 2022!

In this new year, do something good for yourself:  Protect yourself and your passwords :)  And don't get pwned...