How important is your poker password to you?

[blueday]

You may have read the news regarding Daniel Negreanu who had his account hacked and the hacker spent $100,000 of Daniel's cash (if you've not seen the article, read it HERE; well this got me wondering about my own security i.e. my password and how safe it is plus my email account linked to my poker sites, how safe is that?

I did actually have my email account hacked once probably about 5 years ago now.  Putting it simply, my security question was easy enough to answer if this person knew me so they could change my pass on my email account.  Once they get into your email account, they can request a password reset on your poker account. Simple!

To combat this problem in the future, I picked a very difficult question and selected the most bizarre answer plus made my password difficult to work out with numbers, letters and capital letters.  I chose a competely random unrelated pass on my poker sites, again with numbers, letters and capital letters.

Getting back to the Daniel Negreanu hacking problem, I have seen that PokerStars offer the most secure login options of all the poker sites.  Obviously, the first thing you have is your password.  There is also a pin that can be created.  Here are details on how the pin works:

"A PokerStars PIN’ is a six digit number that is issued by PokerStars, in addition to your password. Once a PokerStars PIN is set for your account, you will be required to enter your PokerStars PIN number by clicking on an on-screen keypad, every time you login.

Each time you try to login to your PokerStars account, the numbers will change position. That will stop most keyloggers from recording where you click and what buttons you press and help to protect the security of your account.

The use of the PokerStars PIN also enhances account security by providing an additional validation number, which would prevent you from being exposed to certain types of ‘phishing’ and ‘social engineering’ scams."

On top of this, there is an "RSA Security Token".  Basically, this token is a piece of hardware issued by PokerStars, in addition to your password.  See the picture below:



The token displays a six digit code that changes every minute. The bars on the left hand side of the display count down to indicate when the code is about to change.

Once an RSA Security Token is enabled for your account, you will be required to enter your RSA Security Passcode every time you login.

The RSA Security Passcode is a combination of two elements:


    Your four-digit RSA Security PIN followed by
    The six-digits currently displayed on the window of your RSA Security Token.

Taking all the above into account, I wonder why Daniel didn't use this security system.  What are your thoughts on this? 

How secure are your passwords, security questions etc on your poker accounts/email accounts?  Will you be changing them as a result of this?

blue

[kattboots]

Wow, that is amazing that Negreanu got hacked with all of that available! With that kind of money in there! OMG! In my account they would be lucky to find anything but moths!

I think that the intense need for security is part of the problem in itself. There are so many sites and so many passwords and pins and security questions that it is just overwhelming to keep them all straight. So, what do you do... set a lot of things to the same codes so that you can remember them.

Plus going through all of the security steps to get on a site takes time and these days there is just too little time to do it all in this world that we take the easiest, shortest way to get anywhere... our own worst enemies in the security area.

I will be changing some things at this point... as soon as I get some spare time to do it!

katt

[Rosebud]

Food for thought that's for sure.I usually just use the same one because I'm too old and too lazy to put my brain thru all that abuse!!!

I guess I will have to seriosly think about changing my password to make it more difficult.I then will have to write it down and put it somewhere,and hope I don't forget that too!!

[blueday]

Thanks for the replies ladies.

Daniel certainly needs to bring in as much security as he can with that kind of cash around.

I hope you ladies do make time to change your passes.  We may not have the huge cash balances of the poker pros, but I know I would feel violated if someone broke into my account and spent what poker money I do have.

blue