A word of caution about Amazon passwords

By Mir
February 1, 2011
Category Quick Tips

If you haven’t seen this Wired piece about a bit of wonkiness with older Amazon passwords, take a couple of minutes to read it. The upshot is that on some accounts, you can log in with a password that’s just close to the real password. Ack!

So read the article, and then go change your password on Amazon. (You can change it right back to your original one, afterward, but it will fix this particular bug.)

18 Comments

  1. Angela on February 1, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    Thanks!

  2. Kirsten on February 1, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    AHHHH!!! I was able to log in to my account by adding numbers on at the end of my password. I have changed it now. Thanks for the heads up!

  3. Anna on February 1, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Thanks, Mir.

  4. Cista on February 1, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    Thank you very much! I fixed mine and passed the word on.

  5. Jamie on February 1, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    Wow, thanks for the heads up. Heading over to Amazon. Too bad you don’t make pennies on this “transaction!”

  6. Brigitte on February 1, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    Eeek, must run and go fix!

  7. Carolyn Erickson on February 1, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    Thank you, Mir!

    What I can’t fathom is why you and Wired magazine are telling us and not an email from Amazon.

  8. Jamie on February 1, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    I tested what Kirsten did by putting abc at the end of my password and it still logged me on! Yikes. Changed and then changed a second time. Thanks so much, Mir!

  9. Maribel on February 1, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    Thank you!

  10. Katherine on February 1, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    Yikes! I just changed my password. Mine hadn’t been changed in *cough* too long (ever).
    I too wonder why Amazon isn’t emailing us to tell us to change our passwords.
    Thanks Mir for saving my bacon. (Or credit rating. Whatever.)

  11. Momcat on February 1, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    Thank you, Mir!

  12. Average Jane on February 1, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Thank you! My account is ancient, so it probably applied to me.

  13. Kristen on February 1, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    Thanks, Mir. I was just a victim of a Facebook money scheme last week. Some loser was chatting with my friends, telling them I was stranded in London and needed money wired to me ASAP! Currently, my FB account is suspended until they can iron out this weird hacking. Password-changing is definitely on my radar!

  14. Kaedra on February 1, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    Thank you! I’m sure mine is affected.

  15. Lucinda on February 1, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    Thanks for the heads up. I actually just changed my ancient password a couple weeks ago to something more secure. Glad I did.

  16. Stephanie on February 1, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    Thanks, Mir. I actually tested this and I WAS able to login with a “version” of my pw….SCARY!!!

  17. Jaime on February 1, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    Thanks for this!! got it fixed now!

  18. Trish on February 1, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    eep!!! i need a new one! thanks for the heads-up Mir, you’re so pretty!

Bargain Hunt

Visit my closet on Poshmark!

Overstock

target-logo-sidebar

Groupon

Rakuten

Want Not Archives

Creative Commons License

Pin It on Pinterest