Plaintext Passwords

What’s worse than forgetting your password?

I say it is resetting your password with a nice strong complex one using one of those Forgot Password” tools on the website and then receiving an email confirmation that contains your password in plaintext!

Here are my recommendations on how to avoid this problem:

1. Don’t forget your passwords! (but if that’s going to happen, perhaps the other ideas below will suit you better)
2. Use a password manager, so you always have your passwords available.  There are many different programs/apps/websites available to facilitate this.  I will delve into the different kinds in an upcoming post
3. Make note of the site which sent you the confirmation email and challenge their practice!  Send them an email, make them aware that you do not approve of their practice.
4. Determine if this site is something that you need for business or personal reasons.  If it’s only something you want, look around and see if there are other options which have higher password security policies.
5. Don’t make the same mistake twice!

It’s time we take our online security into our own hands.  Please let me know the sites with those nasty emails with plaintext passwords!  I will create a listing and place it in the Reference section.

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