Pimp Your Finances

If you follow tech news, you may have noticed some strange celebrity Twitter updates last week (these are actual screenshots):

 (pictures from Wired and ValleyWag)

The reason?  One of the Twitter admins chose a weak password.  As a result, a hacker was able to break into her account, granting him access to everyone’s account.  Then, hilarity ensued.

What’s a weak password?  Great question, because your personal accounts – both email and financial – could be at risk if you have one.  First, I’m going to describe what a password should be: strong.

A strong password contains a random mix of all of the following: numbers, symbols, and both uppercase and lowercase letters.  It avoids words, user names, names of pets or relatives, and any personal information (like birth date, graduation year, social security number, etc…).  They are strong because they are hard to guess or crack, even with an automated program.

A weak password is just a name or a dictionary word.  It might have a few numbers, normally at the beginning or the end.  It can be guessed at random, and is even easier to crack if someone has personal information about you.

In the case of the Twitter hijacking, a hacker used a program that attempts to log in using every word in the dictionary.  He picked a popular user at random, and started the program before he went to sleep.  When he woke up, he had full access to her account.

Her password?  Happiness.

She happened to be a Twitter admin, so the hacker had access to reset passwords.  He took advantage of this to break into celebrity accounts.  It appears that everyone else’s Twitter info is still safe, but that’s not the point.

The point is that if you use weak passwords for your email or finance accounts, you’re putting yourself at risk.  Hackers and identity thieves are resourceful, especially if they can make money by breaking into accounts.

Take the time and effort to make sure that your passwords are strong, and that none of them are duplicated across accounts.  You never know – it could save your identity.