Shoutout to my old IT teacher for a simple password trick that actually worked

My bank account got locked after 3 failed login attempts last month because I forgot my complex password. I remembered my teacher saying to try the password I used for my old high school email, which was a simple phrase, and it worked. Is it ever okay to reuse an old, simpler password if the system doesn't block it, or is that always a bad move?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_fiona2d ago

$1,000 on a pizza? That's actually hilarious and terrifying at the same time. I can just picture the delivery truck backing up to her house with 50 pizzas. But no, reusing an old simple password is definitely a bad move even if the system lets you through. That high school email password is probably floating around in some data breach from 10 years ago, and hackers keep lists of those old passwords to try on newer accounts.

the_paul1mo ago

My buddy did that with his old "password123" and his Netflix got hacked by his cousin in Idaho. It's a bad move.

alicecraig1mo ago

Honestly that's just how people treat all their passwords. They use the same easy one everywhere because it's simple to remember. Then one site gets broken into and suddenly their whole digital life is wide open. It's not just about Netflix, it's about your email and bank info too. Makes you wonder why we still use passwords at all when they fail so often.

nguyen.morgan1mo ago

Totally feel that. My sister used "sunshine" for everything until her old Tumblr got popped and someone tried to buy a thousand bucks worth of pizza on her debit card. Passwords are such a broken system.