Debugger
It’s a Huge Mistake to Memorize Your Passwords
Here’s what to do instead — and which services you should use
You shouldn’t know any of your passwords. But there’s a decent chance you do — many of us fall into a default pattern of memorizing one or two and using them across countless websites and services.
That’s a mistake. If you’re still doing this, or if you know any of your passwords at all, it’s time to change it up. These days, the only secure password is one you can’t possibly remember. Studies have repeatedly shown that password reuse is the most common security blunder people make. When a single service gets hacked — which happens constantly — hackers are able to guess which other services you use and break into those with the same password.
This tactic, called credential stuffing, is used by hackers to target people’s most personal information. Say you signed up years ago for a service like last.fm, which was breached in 2012; if your banking password is the same, you might be kissing your identity goodbye simply because hackers are able to guess that the passwords matched.
If you’re lucky, you’ve probably been only caught up in a single breach, but the reality is that the majority of us have been affected multiple times over the years. All it…
