![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyThe site that was hacked in 2014 which has provided spammers the passwords for defunct DW journals was LiveJournal. The hackers obtained not only passwords but also email addresses; if you reused the same password for your DW when you created it from LJ, or if you had multiple LJs linked to the same email address, that information has been circulating and is now freely available.
Full details at this link. If you can't remember the last time you changed your password, or whether your password is unique, you should change it now. I would also recommend using a password manager to avoid having to remember your passwords and to create more secure ones. I use LastPass because of inertia, though my understanding is that 1Password is slightly better. The UX on the functions is occasionally annoying, but it's well worth sporadic upfront hassle in my experience. In either case, one of the best things you can do for security is to get one and to use it consistently.
ETA: official Dreamwidth post on the breach from![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png)
denise, with a good comment about password managers attached.
Full details at this link. If you can't remember the last time you changed your password, or whether your password is unique, you should change it now. I would also recommend using a password manager to avoid having to remember your passwords and to create more secure ones. I use LastPass because of inertia, though my understanding is that 1Password is slightly better. The UX on the functions is occasionally annoying, but it's well worth sporadic upfront hassle in my experience. In either case, one of the best things you can do for security is to get one and to use it consistently.
ETA: official Dreamwidth post on the breach from
denise, with a good comment about password managers attached.