FBI offers some poor password advice for online shoppers

[allheart55 Cindy E]

 

 

It's been a big holiday weekend in the United States, with some folks going crazy ape bonkers over the retail bargains available.

 

And today is Cyber Monday when online retailers tend to jump on the bandwagon too.

 

So, it was good to hear that the FBI was going to offer some timely advice for online shoppers over the holiday season.

 

What was disappointing, however, was the advice they offered when they tweeted this:

 

 

 

 

Shopping online this holiday season? Keep your accounts secure, use strong passwords & change them frequently. [HASHTAG]#cyber[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#blackfriday[/HASHTAG]

 

I like the advice to use strong passwords (although mentioning that they should also be *unique* passwords that you aren't using anywhere else would have been helpful).

 

What I don't like is the advice that shoppers should change their passwords regularly.

 

As we have discussed before, regularly changing passwords (unless there's a good reason to believe that passwords need to be changed - such as having a weak password, password reuse or a breach) can lead to folks making poor password choices that actually reduce security rather than increase it.

 

You can find out more in this video I made earlier this year:

 

 

Source: Graham Cluley