4 ms·

Wait, why would I change my Gmail password?

by orblivion 15y ago

DiabloD3 15y ago
Because a lot of people use the same password everywhere. I really really really wish they wouldn't.
- orblivion 15y ago
  Ok, so if I don't do this I should be fine. I think the guy should have qualified his statement. Thanks.
- Silhouette 15y ago
  As long as we routinely use dozens of services that rely on "memorable" data to authenticate us, this is as inevitable as people who try to use different passwords for everything writing them down. Password stores are one possible improvement, but most people don't know enough to use one, and they are probably far too fiddly for most people anyway. And of course, ultimately you're still talking about using a single set of credentials to authorise everything in that case, it's just a different target (which if ever compromised will undermine your entire identity). Multi-factor authentication is a much better solution, but the technology to make it ubiquitous in a way that is neither excessively expensive nor creepy on privacy grounds isn't there yet. There are some problems in security that we know how to solve, at least to the extent that no-one has any idea how to crack them directly today and the effort to brute force them is effectively infinite. I'm really hoping that one of these days, the combination of mobile technology and the Internet will provide us with an easily portable device that can integrate with everything and render obsolete the current mess of hundreds of on-line identities, "memorable data" to authenticate for every financial service I use, etc.
karteek 15y ago
A lot of users tend to use same password for various accounts. So, if the hacker gets one password, it means he can gain access to other accounts owned by the user.
VikingCoder 15y ago
What you SHOULD do is set up two-factor authentication for your Google account. It's annoying, but not nearly as annoying as having a keylogger in a hotel lobby computer steal your password.
- derwiki 15y ago
  How do you do that? EDIT: Found it! https://accounts.google.com/b/0/SmsAuthConfig https://accounts.google.com/b/0/SmsAuthConfig

Wait, why would I change my Gmail password?

DiabloD3 15y ago

Because a lot of people use the same password everywhere. I really really really wish they wouldn't.

orblivion 15y ago
Ok, so if I don't do this I should be fine. I think the guy should have qualified his statement. Thanks.
Silhouette 15y ago
As long as we routinely use dozens of services that rely on "memorable" data to authenticate us, this is as inevitable as people who try to use different passwords for everything writing them down. Password stores are one possible improvement, but most people don't know enough to use one, and they are probably far too fiddly for most people anyway. And of course, ultimately you're still talking about using a single set of credentials to authorise everything in that case, it's just a different target (which if ever compromised will undermine your entire identity). Multi-factor authentication is a much better solution, but the technology to make it ubiquitous in a way that is neither excessively expensive nor creepy on privacy grounds isn't there yet. There are some problems in security that we know how to solve, at least to the extent that no-one has any idea how to crack them directly today and the effort to brute force them is effectively infinite. I'm really hoping that one of these days, the combination of mobile technology and the Internet will provide us with an easily portable device that can integrate with everything and render obsolete the current mess of hundreds of on-line identities, "memorable data" to authenticate for every financial service I use, etc.

karteek 15y ago

A lot of users tend to use same password for various accounts. So, if the hacker gets one password, it means he can gain access to other accounts owned by the user.

VikingCoder 15y ago

What you SHOULD do is set up two-factor authentication for your Google account. It's annoying, but not nearly as annoying as having a keylogger in a hotel lobby computer steal your password.

derwiki 15y ago
How do you do that? EDIT: Found it! https://accounts.google.com/b/0/SmsAuthConfig https://accounts.google.com/b/0/SmsAuthConfig