Recently, Monster.com had customer information stolen from its database including usernames, passwords, phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, and certain demographic data, according to a report published by ZDNet.
Following a breach like this, it is important to change your password not only at the breached site, Monster.com in this case, but also for any other site for which you use the same password. Many computer users use the same password or handful of passwords for all their Internet accounts. Imagine if you used the same email address and password for Monster.com that you use for eBay or Paypal. It's not a huge leap for a bad guy to try the same password you use one place on another site that might have even more attractive information.
So, if you have an account at Monster.com or any other site that has its data (really *your* data) compromised, be sure to be vigilant about changing your passwords and considering how far the damage might spread if a bad guy were to go exploring.
Bonus: How 1Password Can Help
Of course, 1Password makes it orders of magnitude easier to minimize your exposure in situations like this. If you use 1Password to generate your passwords, you have very little cause to worry about duplicate passwords and your risk is mitigated.
If you have entries in 1Password that do use the same password, you can search for entries that have that password and then change them accordingly.
- Launch 1Password
- Enter your master password to unlock your keychain (if necessary).
- Click the magnifying glass in the search field and choose "Search in Password."
- Enter the password in the search field.
This will reveal all the entries with that password.
1Password Workflow for Changing Passwords
- Select a login and choose File > Go and Fill Login (cmd+return) from the menu to go to the site and login.
- Navigate to the change password page.
- Right click the password field and choose "Strong Password Generator" to generate a new password.
- Click "Fill" and then submit your password change. 1Password will attempt to recognize that you are changing your password and offer to update the login's password for you. If it does not, you can find the generated password in the Password History section of 1Password and update the login manually.
- Repeat this procedure for each login that you need to change.
