Forcing people to change passwords regularly does tend to reduce overall password security because people tend to get very tired of the process and will start to pick really poor passwords. That doesn't mean you should never change your password - changing your password from time to time, as long as its a strong password that you do not use anywhere else - does improve your security. That said, in terms of user security, the most important factor is not using the same password on multiple websites. After that, comes using a strong password (for example using a password manager so your password is randomly generated). Then comes 2FA if available for your account. I would rank changing your password from time to time a distant fourth - still a good idea - but the first two things are much more important in my mind.
(I can't comment on ongoing investigations so this should only be taken as a comment about general password security and not about this particular incident) -- Brian Wikimedia Security Team On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, Leon Ziemba <musikani...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > I'm no security expert, so bear with me! Just looking for some > clarification. > >> regularly changing your passwords > > It was my understanding studies have shown regularly changing passwords can > be adverse, no? [1][2] Not sure if we have a stance on that, because this > is the first time I've heard it come up. > > I don't know if this is relevant to this particular incident of account > hijacking, but I've also been told it's important to ensure your > password is unique > to Wikimedia, and to turn on two-factor authentication, if possible and you > are willing to do so.[3][4] > > [1] > https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/techftc/2016/03/time-rethink-mandatory-password-changes > [2] > https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/password-guidance-simplifying-your-approach > [3] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements/en#So_that's_it,_my_account_is_secure > ? > [4] https://office.wikimedia.org/wiki/Security_Basics#Passwords (staff only) > > ~Leon > > On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 8:10 AM John Bennett <jbenn...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > >> *On 8 May 2018, account hijacking activities were discovered on Wikiviajes >> - Spanish Wikivoyage (es.wikivoyage.org <http://es.wikivoyage.org>). It >> was >> identified by community stewards and communicated to the Trust and Safety, >> Legal, and Security teams who responded to the event. At this time the >> event is still under investigation and we are unable to share more about >> what is being done without risking additional hijacking of accounts. >> However, we feel it is important to share what details we can and inform >> the community of what happened. Similar to past security incidents, we >> continue to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a >> secure computer and account - including regularly changing your passwords, >> actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your >> system software up to date. The Wikimedia Foundation's Security team and >> others are investigating this incident as well as potential improvements to >> prevent future incidents. We are also working with our colleagues in other >> departments to develop plans for how to best share future status updates on >> each of these incidents. However, we are currently focused on resolving the >> issues identified. If you have any questions, please contact the Trust and >> Safety team (ca{{@}}wikimedia.org <http://wikimedia.org>). John >> BennettDirector of Security, Wikimedia Foundation* >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikitech-l mailing list >> Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > _______________________________________________ > Wikitech-l mailing list > Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
