Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams were not the only victims of hacking this month. More than 32 million Twitter account records were reportedly available for sale last week. It is believed these records, which may include usernames, email address(es) and passwords, were obtained not from a breach of Twitter’s system but via malware that captured the information directly from the users’ browsers. Earlier tips have warned against using commonly used passwords, recommended closing dormant accounts and urged caution when clicking links. Those tips are good advice. Some additional password related tips that may reduce the risk of a breach or limit the scope of a breach include (in a tweetable 139 characters):
Use a unique password for each account. Change passwords periodically. Don’t reuse recent ones. Use 2 step authentication. Update software.
Check out our series, Privacy Perils, to learn what steps you can take to guard your personal and company data. For more information about this topic and other cyber security concerns, please contact a member of our Privacy & Data Security team.