Most of the time we, the end users, don’t hear about it. 

Companies don’t want to admit that their security was thwarted.  There are many reasons why a company would not want to divulge such information including: Stock values, public trust and opinion, increases in hacking attempts and costs of reimbursing users.

Today, Yahoo! Has finally admitted they were hacked in 2014.  The hackers got email addresses and account passwords for over 500 million users!  Since 2014, I have changed my passwords at least 4 times, so I know I am covered.  Are you?

I think Yahoo! Waiting 2 years to divulge this information is a disgrace!  Click here to read the rest of this article...

Spencer’s Password System (SPS)

I divide my accounts into three categories: Financial, Personal and Public. 

Each category has a complex password assigned to it.  The complex password must consist of at least 8 characters, include a capital letter, a number and a special character.

95% of my accounts will work with this system.  Sometimes you might find an account that won’t allow a special character, this is fairly rare.  For these accounts, I exchange the special character for a number or letter that looks like the special character.  I change these passwords at least twice a year, more if I find there has been a breach at one of companies I have an account with.  I have used this system for more than 10 years now and it has worked well for me.

Password managers a popular way to handle your password management.  They will generally cost a yearly fee.  They store all your passwords for you and gives you a central place to make changing them easier.  You only have to remember a main, very complex password and the software does the rest.  The main caveat here is that the password management software can be hacked.  If this happens, the hacker has access to ALL of your accounts and associated passwords managed by the company.

Last year in June, LastPass was hacked.  The hackers got away with 7 million users’ information.  The company quickly found and fixed the bug that hackers used to steal the information but the damage was already done.  Click here to read the rest of this article.  

You can also click here to read about the LastPass hack on Forbes. 

If you are interested in more reading on Password Managers, here are a few articles:  Gizmodo, PC Manager & The Hacker News

We love to hear from you!

Have you used our services and are happy?  
Why not leave us a review on Thumbtack?  Just click on the Thumbtack logo...

You can also share this e-mail with family and friends that might need our services.  You can forward it below, or just hit forward in your e-mail client.  

We appreciate YOU!!!

Also - if you have a moment - Click on the FaceBook logo to the right to leave us a review there!

Don’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a new computer if it is not necessary! Let us give you an extensive tune-up to make your computer run like new again!