Please give some thought to changing your LJ passwords...
Social media is presently full of reports of, erm, well there's a bit of a cyber thing going on. You can guess why. That normally only counts for so much, but a flistie and RW friend mailed last night to say someone had logged into her LJ account, so it's starting to hit closer to home. (You can check for that sort of incursion here, btw: https://www.livejournal.com/manage/logins.bml. (Note: the sorting in that list is odd, you may have to scroll down a bit.) DW shows up as Dreamwidth in the US on the list. If you aren't using VPNs, then aside from them (that's assuming you imported your journal (<- if not, get on it)), you should see only your own activity from your country on your device(s) and operating system(s). If there's anything else going on in that list, please change your password now. **
On the off chance we should find ourselves unable to access LJ, either short or longer term, in the near future, that's a wise precaution anyway. If you're locked out, you won't be able to change it if there's ever an issue at a later date.
* You should change your LJ password to something unique (that you've never used elsewhere) and ridiculously robust and then please don't use it again anywhere else. Also, ideally you shouldn't save it in your browser, instead put it in a password safe or write it down in a bunch of places. I can pretty much guarantee no criminals are rifling through your desk looking for your LJ password. (Curious family members admittedly are a different matter.)
* Make sure the email address LJ has for you is up to date, and that you keep the email account LJ links to functional, preferably also with a robust password.
This is about a number of things. When your account is secure:
* It keeps your data, pictures, posts, email etc. safe.
* In the present circumstances, it reduces the risk to LJ itself. If you've appreciated the platform in the past, consider showing them that much respect. They can no more help the situation than we can, and no matter how you feel about things, I think it's safe to say they're more directly affected by it than the vast majority of us.
* It keeps your friends' data safe. Everyone who has flisted you provides you with access to information they may not be willing to share with the world at large. If someone is able to access your account, you're giving them access to that information as well. Keep your communities safe.
* In all likelihood, it will help keep still more of your accounts safe. People rarely use unique passwords.
And as long as we're on the topic, I know I bang on about this a lot, but can I get you to take a look at https://haveibeenpwned.com and enter the email you use for accounts like this. (You have nothing to risk beyond spam, and I've never had even that.) Often you'll discover some of the services you're using have already been cracked. Livejournal had a breach a number of years ago, Zynga games (which is something I know a lot of my flisties use) had issues, too, for instance. Anything else of yours that uses the same credentials (email / password combination) is vulnerable. Change them. That's just the cracked accounts themselves. They have no way of knowing where else you've used the same login information.
** It should go without saying, but if you're halfway through an import of your livejournal to Dreamwidth, wait until it's finished to change your password.
Keep safe, peeps. ❤️
On the off chance we should find ourselves unable to access LJ, either short or longer term, in the near future, that's a wise precaution anyway. If you're locked out, you won't be able to change it if there's ever an issue at a later date.
* You should change your LJ password to something unique (that you've never used elsewhere) and ridiculously robust and then please don't use it again anywhere else. Also, ideally you shouldn't save it in your browser, instead put it in a password safe or write it down in a bunch of places. I can pretty much guarantee no criminals are rifling through your desk looking for your LJ password. (Curious family members admittedly are a different matter.)
* Make sure the email address LJ has for you is up to date, and that you keep the email account LJ links to functional, preferably also with a robust password.
This is about a number of things. When your account is secure:
* It keeps your data, pictures, posts, email etc. safe.
* In the present circumstances, it reduces the risk to LJ itself. If you've appreciated the platform in the past, consider showing them that much respect. They can no more help the situation than we can, and no matter how you feel about things, I think it's safe to say they're more directly affected by it than the vast majority of us.
* It keeps your friends' data safe. Everyone who has flisted you provides you with access to information they may not be willing to share with the world at large. If someone is able to access your account, you're giving them access to that information as well. Keep your communities safe.
* In all likelihood, it will help keep still more of your accounts safe. People rarely use unique passwords.
And as long as we're on the topic, I know I bang on about this a lot, but can I get you to take a look at https://haveibeenpwned.com and enter the email you use for accounts like this. (You have nothing to risk beyond spam, and I've never had even that.) Often you'll discover some of the services you're using have already been cracked. Livejournal had a breach a number of years ago, Zynga games (which is something I know a lot of my flisties use) had issues, too, for instance. Anything else of yours that uses the same credentials (email / password combination) is vulnerable. Change them. That's just the cracked accounts themselves. They have no way of knowing where else you've used the same login information.
** It should go without saying, but if you're halfway through an import of your livejournal to Dreamwidth, wait until it's finished to change your password.
Keep safe, peeps. ❤️