Change your passwords!

[Pooka37]

I’m only posting this because I love this forum and I want to make sure everyone else doesn’t have to go through this. I recently had my info stolen and believe it or not, this website was a way they got my info and password. It was a huge data breach my health insurance company had to disclose to me, and I was shocked that this site popped up as one of the sites that showed up when I did a scan of compromised places on the internet. It’s not the fault of this website at all. Please change your passwords just in case your info was taken. Don’t leave this group because it’s not their fault. Like I said, I LOVE this community, and I just want everyone to stay safe while they have a great way to stay in touch about these amazing creatures we love.

 

[LaManuka]

I’m only posting this because I love this forum and I want to make sure everyone else doesn’t have to go through this. I recently had my info stolen and believe it or not, this website was a way they got my info and password. It was a huge data breach my health insurance company had to disclose to me, and I was shocked that this site popped up as one of the sites that showed up when I did a scan of compromised places on the internet. It’s not the fault of this website at all. Please change your passwords just in case your info was taken. Don’t leave this group because it’s not their fault. Like I said, I LOVE this community, and I just want everyone to stay safe while they have a great way to stay in touch about these amazing creatures we love.

Timely advice, thank you @Pooka37. I'm sorry you've had this experience, unfortunately it is becoming all the more common given the prevalence of bots and various bad actors who are constantly scanning every website and forums like ours for chinks in their armour. It happens a lot where folks might use the same password for multiple sites too, so using unique passwords can also help keep hackers from gaining access to personal info. The admins here work very hard to keep our forum secure but nothing can ever be 100% failsafe, my husband recently had his credit card info scammed from a VERY well known accommodation website - it's a jungle out there on the wild wild web!!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Wow! I don't understand why anyone other than parrot lovers would be interested in anything posted on parrot forums. Maybe I don't understand why parrot forums came up.

 

[rheashard2]

Parrots are an expensive purchase. So to outsiders this is a potential hunting/phishing ground. My dad retired from being a dentist. Dissatisfied w retirement he got a degree and job in computer science. He (attempted to) beat it into our heads to have a different password for each site. He stressed no BD, pet names, and so much more. I'm glad I did though.

 

[MrJackpotz]

Use 2FA and a password manager. Bitwarden is my favorite

 

[MrJackpotz]

Wow! I don't understand why anyone other than parrot lovers would be interested in anything posted on parrot forums. Maybe I don't understand why parrot forums came up.

Because it was a large data sweep. They're gathering everything and anything they can. The more info they have, the more targeted a scammer can make fraud attempts. People also reuse passwords frequently, which is a bad idea. If you use the same password here that you do on your email or bank, that's a problme. Hence the need for password managers and 2FA

 

[rheashard2]

Bank manager said that tech is out to fool voice recognition software. He suggested not using my voice for voice mail etc. The software can take a small sample and enlarge upon it.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I have such a hard time remembering passwords to everything. If I had to use different passwords for everything I would never be able to log into anything.

 

[rheashard2]

The key there is using muscle memory instead of the mind. The icon of the site is the trigger. I work to keep it random numbers and characters. Frankly I like doing this. I look at it like crocheting or beading a pattern. Once the fingers learn I can turn the brain to listening to music, audiobooks, TV, dozing and watching my CAG to keep her out mischief.