The day my password manager saved me from a mess I made 5 years ago

Last week I got an email from a site I hadn't logged into since 2019. Turns out there was a data breach and someone got my old password. The scary part is I used that same password for like 15 different accounts back then. If I hadn't switched to a password manager 3 years ago and changed everything, I'd be resetting bank accounts and email logins right now. My wife still thinks I'm overreacting about using unique passwords. Has anyone else had a close call like this from old reused passwords floating around?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley8602d agoTop Commenter

The same password on 15 accounts thing is basically a ticking time bomb. I had a similar wake up call when I got a notification that my old Netflix login was used to try and get into my PayPal. That was the moment my wife stopped rolling her eyes at me and started asking me to help her check her own passwords. She had the same password for her email and her old college alumni forum. It took one breach to make her see why I was paranoid.

patricia_singh812d ago

Oh man, that "same password for like 15 different accounts" bit hit home. I had the exact same problem. I used my dog's name and birth year for EVERYTHING until I got hit with a breach notification from an old forum. What finally made me switch was finding out my email was in like 4 different breach databases on haveibeenpwned. My wife thought I was nuts too until she got a fake charge on our joint credit card from a reused password. Now she lets me handle ALL the digital security stuff and even asks me to check her passwords sometimes.

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