This is your friendly reminder to update your passwords. As the title of this post reads, Facebook was hacked earlier today and over 50 million user accounts were compromised.

You might have noticed this earlier this morning – many users were automatically logged out of the service (including me). Yeah, I know. Pretty annoying. But it’s a big deal.

Here’s a few things you should do start doing today and over the course of the next few days to keep yourself and your friends safe online –

1. Update Your Facebook Password, Like Right Now
When doing this, make sure to use a unique and secure password. This means that you should use a totally unique password on Facebook, and that you should not use that same password on any other site. It should also be a very long and difficult password to remember. Like so long and complex that you probably have to write it down with a real pen.

2. Use a Password Manager
We use Dashlane to manage passwords. Password managers are very helpful because they remember your passwords for you. They also help you set very secure passwords that you do not have to remember. There are other password managers such as LastPass and 1Password. For those that are shopping around or want to do more research, here’s an article from LifeHacker that reviews the various password managers.

3. Use 2 Factor Authentication (2FA)
If you’ve got a cell phone, you can setup 2 Factor Authentication for your important accounts (think bank accounts, email, and twiter). When anyone (including you) tries to log into those accounts, you’ll receive a text message confirmation code before you can login. This helps prevent unauthorized login attempts, and is pretty cool. Google has a pretty nice overview of why 2FA is important and how to set it up for your Google Account.

For more info about Password Managers and this specific Facebook hack, check out the blog on Dashlane. And if you have any questions, feel free to post a comment or contact us directly 🙂

Good luck, and believe me, after setting up that password manager, you won’t worry as much next time Facebook (or another site) gets hacked.