Well, it’s another week, and another online service has reported a data breach.
This time it’s Ancestry.com – or more specifically, the server that hosts their RootsWeb genealogy information sharing tools.
Ancestry has released this RootsWeb Security Update in which they describe the nature of the breach and how many of their current Ancestry.com users might be affected. Luckily, it doesn’t appear to be that many.
While this particular breach apparently isn’t nearly as widespread or dangerous as some of the most recent ones, it could still cause you some serious problems if you happen to be one of the unlucky few Ancestry customers who are affected.
If you have an account with both Ancestry.com and RootsWeb, I strongly recommend that you change the passwords on both accounts right now just as a precaution.
By the way, this is a perfect example of why it’s a bad idea to use the same password on more than one website. The only people who are negatively affected by this breach are the ones who used the same password for both their Ancestry.com and RootsWeb accounts.
Bottom line: If you have accounts with both Ancestry.com and their RootsWeb service, you need to change your passwords on those accounts right away.
Bonus tip: This post explains how to choose a password that’s extremely secure, yet easy to remember.
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