Stop What You’re Doing and Reset Your Passwords

Late last week, another major internet bug was discovered. This one has aptly been named CloudBleed.

This bug not only affects some major websites – including Fitbit and Uber – but their mobile apps as well.

The data potentially exposed includes passwords, cookies, and tokens that authenticate users. The earliest known data leak goes back to September.

What exactly happened?

Google’s Project Zero, a security research analysis team that looks for unidentified vulnerabilities in software and websites found a major problem in a content delivery network (CDN).

What is a content delivery network? It is the middle step between you and the website you view, providing security and increasing web speed. CloudFlare, the CDN affected, hosts over 5.5 million websites.

There is a very good chance that at least one or two websites you use will have been affected by this data breach.

Change your passwords to protect yourself and your clients.

You, like most people, probably reuse your usernames and passwords.

If there is any possibility that one of the compromised sites has the same username and password as any of your work-related accounts, your client data is in jeopardy.

Hackers routinely try to use information they find on one website to log into another. For example, maybe a hacker could only toy with your diet choices on Fitbit – but if the same login information for that account could also access as your email or bank account.

Just to be safe, it’s recommended you change your passwords

What makes a good password?

A good password is something that a hacker can’t easily run a query and guess. Most sites have guidelines that help you create a stronger passwords, but here are some key elements that can help:

• Lowercase letters
• Uppercase letters
• Symbols
• Alternative spelling of words
• Using symbols instead of letters within a word
• Creating a passphrase instead of using one word

For example, this would be a good password:  Luv2Work&Play, and so would this: H@ppyFr!day.

Here are some more tips for maintaining a strong password.

If you have any questions regarding cyber security, Lawyers Mutual offers several resources on our website, www.lawyersmutualnc.com. You can also contact us at 800-662-8843 or riskmgt@lawyersmutualnc.com