{"id":10019,"date":"2018-12-19T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T20:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/?p=10019"},"modified":"2025-04-16T01:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T08:19:25","slug":"why-you-should-never-reuse-your-passwords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privateinternetaccess.com\/blog\/why-you-should-never-reuse-your-passwords\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Never Reuse Your Passwords"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing we all have in common is that we don\u2019t like to memorize a multitude of different passwords for all of our online accounts. It\u2019s not easy to remember multiple passwords, so reusing the same password is a solution of convenience; However, reusing your passwords is also a very big security risk and something we should all stop doing right away.<\/p>\n

Reusing Your Password is Risky<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s say you reuse the same password for Amazon, Facebook, and Gmail. If one of these services (or another service you use) is breached and your reused password is compromised, cybercriminals will have outright access to all of your accounts. They\u2019ll be able to make purchases with your Amazon account using your saved credit card, sign into your Facebook account, and use your email account however they seem fit. They can also change the passwords and it will be difficult for you to recover your stolen accounts.<\/p>\n

If you think it\u2019s is never going to happen to you, you\u2019re probably wrong, and it\u2019s probably already happened. Breaches occur all the time and files containing billions of hacked passwords have already been found floating around the dark web. In 2016 alone, more than 500 million passwords were leaked when LinkedIn, Twitter and Myspace were hacked and in 2014 around 5 million Gmail accounts and passwords were found uploaded on a Russian forum.<\/p>\n

What hackers and cybercriminals do with compromised information depends on the situation. Some of them sell the data they obtain on the dark web, some steal accounts, and others resort to email scams to blackmail people for money. In one of the most prolific email scams of 2018, cybercriminals used leaked passwords to scare victims into paying them by allegedly sending email messages from an email account to the same account. The messages contained the password of the email account and insisted that the owner pay them to avoid having their data sent to their family, friends, and colleagues. This caused a panic among the online community and it also shows why reusing your passwords is a really bad concept.<\/p>\n

Passwords are not only obtained following a breach, they can also be obtained by phishing scams and websites, keyloggers, and malware. In addition, there are tools that hackers can use to crack passwords, although a strong password that contains special characters and two-factor authentication often thwarts such attempts.<\/p>\n

Best Practices for Password Security<\/h2>\n

Here are some things you can do to secure your online accounts:<\/p>\n