Monday, August 8, 2016

Show Kids How To Avoid Online Account Data Breach Pwnage

Online Account Hacker

Hey, your kid might just have something in common with Mark Zuckerberg after all!

Entrepreneurial talent? Well maybe... But I’m talking online security, or the lack of it.

Yes, even tech-savvy online wizards like the mighty Zuck have had their accounts hacked. In fact, hackers even took over Zuck’s Facebook account recently. How? Some speculate he was using the same password for Facebook as he used on another site — a site compromised in a data breach.

So, how can you figure out if your kid is like Zuck? Check out the Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) site maintained by security expert Troy Hunt. By the way, “pwned” — pronounced like “owned” with a p on the front — is a popular gaming slang used to taunt an opponent who is getting dominated (just ask your kids).

If you trust Troy like the Wall Street Journal does, you can type email addresses and userids into HIBP to see whether they’ve been swept up in a data breach. You won’t know for certain that you haven’t, but you’ll at least know if you have.

I checked up on mine. Yep, two hits: the LinkedIn breach and the Adobe breach. I checked my kids too.

What’s the lesson here? Teach your kids password security basics:

  • Never get complacent about account security. Realize we’re all vulnerable to having our online credentials compromised by a data breach — even the mighty Zuck.
  • Make strong passwords, especially for financial sites.
  • Don’t reuse passwords across sites
  • Update passwords periodically

In today’s digital world, account security is an increasingly important part of financial security. So, help save your kids from password pwnage.


Want to turn these tips into action? Check out FamZoo.com.

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