Online Password Security
The Background
Sometimes websites will ask you to change your password. Maybe GMail, or UTHealth, or your bank, periodically changing your password is part of good account security.
The Danger
Malicious persons will sometimes try to trick you into revealing your password to a fake website, where they can read your password and break into your account.
Not long ago, an important person in the United States government got an email telling him to change his GMail password. He followed the link, changed his password at the prompt--and a third party gained access to every email he ever sent or received at that email address. And of course, everything was published. It was a nightmare.
How do you guarantee that a password-reset page is legitimate and safe?
Any time a website asks for sensitive information--your password, social security number, or even your name or address, make sure that the web page:
In both cases, you can see:
Sometimes websites will ask you to change your password. Maybe GMail, or UTHealth, or your bank, periodically changing your password is part of good account security.
The Danger
Malicious persons will sometimes try to trick you into revealing your password to a fake website, where they can read your password and break into your account.
Not long ago, an important person in the United States government got an email telling him to change his GMail password. He followed the link, changed his password at the prompt--and a third party gained access to every email he ever sent or received at that email address. And of course, everything was published. It was a nightmare.
How do you guarantee that a password-reset page is legitimate and safe?
Any time a website asks for sensitive information--your password, social security number, or even your name or address, make sure that the web page:
- has a valid SSL Certificate, and
- actually belongs to the provider that you trust with this sensitive information.
Keeping your passwords safe is very easy!!!
For any web page asking for sensitive information like your password, be sure that- it has a green padlock in the browser next to the URL, and
- its URL belongs to the service you trust
Firefox Browser
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Chrome Browser
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- the green padlock in the browser AND
- the URL starts with "google.com". This is to change a gmail password. If you're changing your Facebook password, it should say "facebook.com"--you get the idea.
Browser address bar
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What’s wrong with it
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The browser is warning you there is no valid SSL certificate (Firefox)
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Invalid SSL certificate--no green padlock (Firefox)
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NOTE: "Google" appears later in the URL, but that doesn't matter. Your trusted provider should occur immediately after "https" |
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SSL certificate is valid, but the URL belongs to someone unknown (168.24.166.98)
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Follow these simple steps, not just at UTHealth, but everywhere in your life,
and your data will be much more safe.
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