I couldnt agree more. I think there are some simple things you can do to limit your risk, but at some point in your life your information will get stolen.

The fact banks are involved with the Federal Government does not offer you additional security. Each lender has the right to utilize security software they think works for them. Likely it is safe to say, nothing is hack proof. As another poster mentioned the recent hacks at the Federal Government Level is proof that nothing is really secure. What does this mean, you need to do what you can to watch over your own security and understand that nothing is hack proof!!!

Moneyes wrote: Remember too that banks are federal institutions, and the federal government has security measures on a level much higher than than the random website.

I'm not so sure about that in light of all the Russian hacking news that's been going on lately. I don't think anything, our government included, is exempt from being hacked.

The bank I use has an online verification process they use when you try to sign in from a computer you normally don't use. This process involves security questions. When I signed up, I chose questions that involved my childhood.....questions no one would know the answers to, and my childhood goes back to a time when there was no internet.

Remember too that banks are federal institutions, and the federal government has security measures on a level much higher than than the random website.

This entire thread has gotten me motivated to proactively audit my Internet security paradigms and come up with a plan to mitigate the impact of a breach. I do well on my end, with overly complex passwords and 2-factor authentication where I can, but I have more faith in not screwing up on my end--than I have on the other end not missing some small detail somewhere and allowing a breach.

I guess you are right. If the hackers want to get in there and if they are funded by foreign governments, they probably will get some info.

I'm sure that it is only really matter of time before Lastpass gets hacked but I would imagine that they take security VERY seriously; given the wide-ranging effect that a successful hack would have on their customer base. While no company plans to be hacked, many companies do take considerably more actions to safeguard the information entrusted into their care.

I wonder if any of those types of companies has been hacked. I haven't heard of any, but has anyone else heard of that?

I've used LastPass to securely store my passwords and credit card profiles for years. It's really easy to use and works amazingly well on mobile devices where it will authenticate with a thumbprint and auto login to sites. Now if LastPass get's hacked, I'm hosed but their security is pretty tight.

I have a cheat sheet as well that I keep secure and locked. But I also use complex and random password for each website.

Unless you are very disciplined and have the time to write down and type complex passwords on paper, and keep that paper secured, I think it would be more difficult to maintain different passwords on each site. My dad does this, but he has to log in more than once usually, because the passwords are strong and random, which are great unless you're not a pro typer!

Storing passwords on paper is the most secure way a person could do it. How can a person hack into that information when it isn't on a computer?

Its definitely possible, but its harder for hackers to hack the secure password. I would not recommend storing passwords in word documents as that is much easier for a hacker to find compared to the secure password service.

Wanderer wrote: What happens if the secure password service gets hacked?

This is the question I always ask. Nothing is one hundred percent secure, so this could easily happen. Wouldn't it be safer to store passwords in a Word document?

I highly recommend Roboform desktop or Roboform ToGo (usb drive) to store logins and other autofill info. This way you can have a unique password for each site and never remember them. Browsers do an okay job of storing this, but Roboform.com stores all sites I have visited. You can also backup and transfer data if you use multiple computers.