In a fresh development, this doesn't affect our editorial independence. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission.
According to the latest update, what’s the wrong way? Reusing passwords. You plug the same password into every single app, website, and service you don’t care about. And so you leave yourself open to online attacks. I have a hot take: You’re probably lazy with passwords in the wrong way.
The report highlights that fail to patch your password elsewhere, and you easily become the victim of a credential stuffing attack. We just saw an example of this very thing recently through Chick-fil-A. Over 13,000 people learned their accounts had been broken into and accessed, with data such as names, email and physical addresses, birth date, phone number, and even the last four digits of saved credit card numbers stolen. If your password has leaked onto the internet, it’s still circulating around.
According to the latest update, want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! Welcome to Safe Mode, your weekly report for pressing security and privacy news—and what steps to take next.
The report highlights that but now hackers and scammers capitalize on knowing your habits. They create personalized phishing and scam attempts—attacks that make them better at stealing away an important account of yours. Or just outright stealing your money. Before, that information just settled into the dark corners of the internet, passed around but not heavily utilized.
As part of the ongoing story, delegate the work to someone else. Or rather, something else: a password manager. Let a password manager create random, unique and strong passwords for you. Let it save them. Let it autofill them for you. So what’s the right approach for passwords?
In a fresh development, the simplest: Use the one on your phone. Both Google and Apple have a password manager built into their ecosystems. Your Windows PC also can save some credentials, like passkeys; for everything else, you can lean on Edges password manager to sync with your Microsoft account. You have so many options.
In a fresh development, these integrate into your regular flow on a phone or PC through an app or browser extension, so once they’re set up, they feel as seamless as Apple Passwords or Google Password Manager. Otherwise, for the most flexibility across devices and services, look into an independent password manager like Bitwarden or Dashlane.
The report highlights that (You can even save passkeys to a password manager—an even stronger way to protect an account, but not yet available for all apps and websites.) The next time a credential stuffing attack happens, you’ll be safe. You also won’t have to sweat the next data breach that includes passwords. In fact, you can be even lazier than before. No thinking. No memorizing. No typing in anything. Armed with a password manager, you can quickly patch your passwords—and then finally have a unique one for every single website and app out there.
In a fresh development, zero effort but full efficiency. This is the right way to be lazy about passwords.
In a fresh development, humans went after public Wi-Fi, stealing credentials to accounts and planting spyware on devices. Meanwhile, their AI counterparts infiltrated real firms during the course of trying to complete tasks, in greater number than we originally knew. Hackers are going to hack—at least, so it seems based on the most recent security news from this past week.
As part of the ongoing story, edge’s built-in VPN can protect you on all websites, not just on insecure networks and for insecure URLs.
The report highlights that thought about protecting your browser activity on other networks with a VPN? You already have one available to you in Microsoft Edge. Travel with your PC away from home?
The report highlights that when turned on, this capability only activates when connected to unsecured Wi-Fi network or unencrypted website (HTTP). Like a few other Chromium-based browsers, Edge can protect the traffic between its browser tabs and websites you visit by routing that data through an encrypted tunnel.
Industry observers note that head to Settings > Privacy, Search, and Services > Security, then flip the toggle for the VPN to All Websites. To get its protection at all times, you must change Edge’s default settings.
According to the latest update, if you think you need more bandwidth—or you want protection for all apps on your PC, not just Edge—look into a dedicated VPN service. Note: Edge limits VPN use to just 5GB of traffic per month.
According to the latest update, since joining the team in 2016, she’s written about CPUs, Windows, PC building, Chrome, Raspberry Pi, and much more—while also serving as PCWorld’s resident bargain hunter (#slickdeals). Currently her focus is on security, helping people understand how best to protect themselves online. Her work has previously appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, Maximum PC, and Official Xbox Magazine. A 15-year veteran of technology and video platform releases journalism, Alaina Yee covers a variety of topics for PCWorld.