'Don't change every single password you have. The same is true when it comes to password protection, Pierson said. A more manageable starting recommendation would be a once-a-day 15-minute walk around the block and small dietary changes. Telling a person who has many identical website logins and passwords to change them all at once is akin to advising someone to lose 50 pounds by running 20 miles a day and going cold turkey on sweets, he said. Start by focusing on the biggest risks first - email, financial, health care and social media sites, said Chris Pierson, founder and chief executive of BlackCloak, a cybersecurity company that specializes in preventing targeted attacks on company employees and executives.

If you fall into this category, it's time to take action. Based on a sample of more than 39 million IoT and OT devices, about 20% used identical usernames and passwords, according to the Microsoft report. Change identical user names, passwords fast, and first, on key accountsįor ease, many people use the same username and password across accounts, but it also puts them at significant risk of having their information compromised. 'As long as passwords are still part of the equation, they're vulnerable,' Joy Chik, Microsoft's vice president of identity, wrote in a September 2021 company blog post. But many people still rely on passwords, and don't even use the two-factor authentication now considered critical. Microsoft users can already securely gain access to Windows, Xbox, and Microsoft 365 without using a password through apps like Microsoft Authenticator, and technologies including fingerprints or facial recognition. Big technology firms including Microsoft would prefer the world of passwords is eradicated, and they've been making changes for an online future that is less reliant on the vulnerable security step.

Microsoft to do hacks