Cyber thieves are targeting consumer passwords and accounts.  

Earlier this month approximately 8.4 billion consumer and small business passwords were stolen and published online. This means essentially all consumer and small business passwords in the entire world are potentially compromised. 

The news of this password breach is a little worse than it appears on its face. 

This most recent theft of passwords comes only a few months after another password breach that resulted in more than 3.2 billion email and password combinations having been published online.  

What you need to know

Everyone needs to assume that their email/password combinations have been compromised and are “known” by “bad guys” who want to steal from you. Everyone needs to immediately change their passwords and activate two-factor authentication (which means you will receive a “code” every time you want to access an account with two-factor authentication). Two-factor authentication will protect you from future breaches. Everyone should use a password assist program. I recommend Lastpass which coordinates all passwords across all platforms (computer, cell phone, other devices) so that users don’t have to remember different passwords. Everyone needs to have unique passwords for each account.  Do not use the same password for more than one account. The use of Lastpass takes care of the problem of remembering unique passwords.