Do you use one password to log into a couple of Web sites? Do some of these sites contain important personal and financial details about you? If so, then you’re placing yourself in serious danger. Not convinced? Then check out tech Web site ars technica’s recent story on a password breach at daily deal Web site LivingSocial.com.

 

A LivingSocial.com breach

According to the story, LivingSocial.com — which offers users daily bargains on everything from restaurants and spas to amusement parks and museums — recently suffered a massive security breach. The breach exposed the names, e-mail addresses and password information for up to 50 million LivingSocial users, according to ars technica.

 

Too Little, Too Late?

But, as the ars technica story illustrates, some users might have responded too late to the password breach. Tim O’Shaughnessy, the chief executive officer of LivingSocial, was quoted after the password breach as telling the site’s users to change their passwords. Also, he advised users to change their passwords at other sites if these passwords are the same as or similar to the one they had been using at LivingSocial. This is helpful advice. Even better advice? Don’t ever use the same password at different sites in the first place.

 

Change it Up

It can be difficult to recall a large number of passwords. And there are occasions when you just want to log onto a site with a password that you’ve used dozens of times before because it is easier than creating, and writing down, a brand-new access code. Don’t fall victim to this temptation. If a hacker cracks your password at one site, it’s not very hard for this cyber criminal to use the same one to gain access to your other Web sites, too, if you’re too lazy to create different passwords at different sites. Yes, passwords are fallible. Even so the more creative you are with them — and this includes creating separate passwords for every site you visit — the better off you’ll be.