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Kept seeing people use the same password for everything, even after that big data breach in 2017

My cousin still uses 'password123' for his bank account and his email, and he works in IT. When I asked why, he said it's just easier to remember. I started using a password manager after I got locked out of my old AOL account back in 2015 and it's saved me a ton of hassle. Has anyone else run into someone who refuses to change even after getting hacked?
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3 Comments
cooper.drew
Did you see that article in Wired last month about how most password managers got bought up by bigger companies? It made me think twice about who has access to all my passwords. Your cousin working in IT using password123 though, that's something else. I work with a guy who still uses the same password from 2003 because he says he's "never been hacked." Meanwhile his email gets compromised twice a year and he doesn't connect the dots. The 2017 breach really should have been a wake up call for everybody, but people just don't want to change their habits.
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jamie_adams
Actually that Wired article was from back in January, not last month, but the point still stands. The big company buyouts have me worried too, especially with how some of those firms have had their own security issues since then. I switched to a local password manager that keeps everything on my own computer instead of their servers. About that guy from work with the 2003 password, you should show him how data breaches work on sites like Have I Been Pwned. That site lets you check if your email or passwords have been leaked in known breaches. It might finally get through to him if he sees his own accounts listed there. The 2017 Equifax breach was bad, but the real wake up call should have been the LinkedIn breach from 2012 or the Yahoo one from 2013. People just keep thinking it won't happen to them until it does.
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christopherw34
christopherw341mo agoOG Member
Flip it around and ask him what his excuse would be if someone drained his bank account because of that password. Sometimes the "it won't happen to me" crowd just needs to hear the worst case scenario spelled out bluntly.
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