I’m a tech expert still in shock at these ways hackers steal your password
You’ve probably heard it a million times, right? Keep your passwords strong, unique and under wraps. Don’t go clicking on shady links, and change your passwords like you change your socks. Oh, and let’s not forget about tucking them away in a cozy, encrypted password manager. The advice list is never-ending.
But here’s a kicker. What if you tick all those boxes and your password still ends up in the wrong hands? I know it sounds like we’re going overboard, but it’s a legitimate worry. How can you keep yourself safe from all the password-stealing scams out there and the damage that can potentially come with that?
The truth is, you can never keep yourself 100% safe from anything. But you can try your best. It starts by taking a step back and understanding the ways that your password, emails and usernames could be potentially compromised.
Illustration of locking up your devices (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
The many ways hackers try to steal your password
Theoretically, there are many ways that hackers can go about stealing your password and other login information, especially when it comes to tricking you into giving it to them. But, all the methods go back to the basics. Here are some of the methods hackers employ to steal passwords from innocent people like you and me.
Password spraying: This isn’t always successful, but attackers may attempt to log in to your accounts by trying random common passwords and seeing if anything hits.
Credential stuffing: Hackers test databases or lists of stolen credentials against multiple accounts to see if there’s a match. If you use the same password across different sites,…
