Compromised online data online (iPhone)

Just updated my iphone to iOS 18 and there is a passwords app.

It comes up with 141 accoutns/logins that have had compromised data. So I started going through the list thinking I would login and delete old shop accounts, forums that I no longer use. So far I have looked at 15 or so, and only 1 still appears to have my details ie I have a login, probably because I havent used them for some years.

Is it worth slogging through all these old accounts trying to close them down, or just change the passwords for the ones I still use?

Ta

Already finding that it is very difficult to close accounts from shops I have used in the distant past ie you cant just click a button, you have to request via email !

I went though this a while ago. I prioritised making sure I had system generated secure passwords for stuff I still use, in particular any sites that are transactional. I don’t really care if my password leaked for some random forum years ago, I do care if that is a shared password that I use on important sites. Deleting the old forum account will make no difference, updating other passwords will.

Mine’s been nagging me for years…

Probably because for years I have used the same password for an awful lot of things.

I’m slowly getting through changing them.

Never reuse passwords on anything you care about.

I really should take my own advice…

Deffo focus on ensuring the stuff that matters is properly secured (decent passwords tiered appropriately, MFA). Far better use of your time.

Deffo focus on ensuring the stuff that matters is properly secured (decent passwords tiered appropriately, MFA). Far better use of your time.

Yeah, I’ve got a load that have been nagging me for ages, the new Passwords app certainly makes things a lot easier to see and use – a lot of the flagged ones go back some years, I can’t remember what they were used for now!

I’ll go through and cull them over time, any that might be an issue I’ll upgrade them. I do try to use passwords generated by the OS, but there are some sites that just won’t accept them, so I have to spend time fannying around trying to create something that works but isn’t obvious to guesswork.

I had to do this a few weeks ago after having my gmail account hacked. Luckily I moved everything important to another email provider a few months ago. I also found some shops were the hardest to unsubscribe from requesting an email rather than pressing a simple button. It took nearly the whole weekend to sort through 95% of accounts.  Redid all the passwords and new email address for the accounts I wanted to keep.

In the end some I just left some that either wanted an email or just wasn’t important. It really pissed me off at the time but it was a good exercise to cull all the shit.

This ‘compromised passwords’ was in Keychain and the old iOS passwords setup.

As folks say – focus on the important ones. And learn the lesson that re-using passwords is not a good thing. Especially with the same user name.

If you have not already checked it out, have a look at https://haveibeenpwned.com/