Today is "Change Your Passwords" Day!

Tech sites like Gizmodo and Lifehacker, in the name of Internet security, have declared February 1st, 2012 "Change Your Passwords" day! There won't be any parades or barbeques, but consider taking a few moments today to change your passwords, especially the ones your use for your email, social networking, banking, and credit cards (you do use different ones for each, right? RIGHT?).

If you can't remember the last time you changed your passwords, or if you use one or only a handful for several sites, now might be a good time to generate new ones. Yeah, it's kind of a pain in the neck to keep track of all those passwords, but it's certainly a lot less painful than having your bank account drained because somebody hacked a retailer you frequent, discovered your password, and figured they'd try it out on your Paypal account.

Even geopolitical analysis powerhouse Stratfor isn't immune to security breaches.

For help keeping track of your passwords, check out this list of password management tools, which allow you to store all your passwords in an encypted file accessible by a master password.

And check out our recent QuickTip on choosing secure passwords, as well. 

via Lifehacker