Revenue Staff Warned Over Passwords

Staff working for the Revenue were recently warned not to use work passwords anywhere else, according to RTÉ, after 137 of them had data in a breach involving a supplier. 

A spokesman for Revenue said, “It is not known at this stage if each account provided full or partial details at the registration stage” and “All staff on the list have been informed and advised on appropriate precautions against potential phishing activities.”

Revenue also said no taxpayer data was involved in the breach and that they continuously monitor for suspect activity. “There was no requirement to inform the DPC, as this was not a breach of Revenue systems,” the spokesman said.

Data breaches in any system in which your information is recorded are obviously an issue, but it’s rapidly compounded if you use the same passwords in multiple places. If you have a password on a puzzle site, for example, which gets hacked, the criminals now have an email address or username for you, and a matching password which they can then try on other sites. If you’re using the same password for your Paypal account, or for any of your work systems, then the danger is obvious.

The best practice is to use a different password on every system. Obviously, these become difficult to remember, so the next thing is to use a password manager. There are many of these – LastPass, 1Password, Roboform, ProtonPass, and many more. They can be installed as plugins to browsers and apps on phones, safely sharing passwords across all your devices.

You then only have to worry about one password – the one for the password manager itself.

There are sometimes concerns about writing passwords down, and some security advisors will tell you not to do this. In reality, though, a notebook in a desk drawer is actually a pretty secure way to keep a password safe. It can’t be hacked, it can’t be picked up from a stolen phone, and if someone with ill intent has already reached your desk, the password is probably not a major concern. Obviously, though, don’t carry written passwords on you, and absolutely not in your phone case or the like. Post-its attached to laptops are right out!

Keeping your passwords safe and not duplicated will prevent you from getting into the same trouble as, undoubtedly, some of the Revenue employees will.