The other day we reported that millions of LinkedIn passwords were stolen. Unfortunately, that password leak has now spread to other popular websites as well. Today, Last.fm and eHarmony announced that a “small fraction” of their userbase has had their passwords compromised.
How are these incidents related to the attack on LinkedIn? Well, apparently, the same band of hackers that attacked LinkedIn also attacked Last.fm and eHarmony on the same day. The LinkedIn passwords were posted on a Russian language website for anybody to see, and the Last.fm and eHarmony passwords were compromised soon after.
eHarmony acted fast after news about the leaked passwords broke. It has sent out emails to all of its members instructing them how to change their password, as well as how to make their password more secure. In addition, the email stressed the importance of using different passwords for different websites, as opposed to a single password across all of your accounts.
Don’t be afraid to admit it: you probably use the same password for 90% of your accounts online. Unfortunately, with website databases constantly coming under attack by hackers, you simply can’t trust any website – even the most secure ones – to keep your information safe. Try using multiple passwords for all your accounts, and be sure to incorporate nonsense words with numbers and special characters into your password.
To make your computer extra secure, try using software like PC Cleaner Pro 2012. It scans for malware like keyloggers and network monitoring applications which steal your passwords and information. By wiping your PC clean of all virus threats and problems, PC Cleaner Pro has helped protect the data of thousands of users around the world.