Hacked: LinkedIn, eHarmony and Last.fm. How did this happen and what can you do protect yourself

Its the fear of any company to be the victim of a security breach leading to their customer's personal information being leaked. Just in the past day, breaches have been confirmed for hugely popular sites such as LinkedIn, eHarmony and Last.fm leaving millions wondering if they were included on the list of unlucky individuals with compromised accounts . 
 
So how does this type of thing happen?
 
No one can be positive of the tactics used to carry out such an attack, but there are many ways that these types of attacks could be launched:
 

• Social engineering – targeting an individual within an organization and getting them to unwittingly share confidential information
• Malware – code specifically targeted at stealing a particular file
• Hacking – someone specifically breaking into a confidential database to get information
• SQL injection attack -- code injection technique that exploits a security vulnerability in a website's software
• Insider threat – someone inside the organization purposefully sending the file outside the organization

Following an attack, the important information for users to understand is how to protect themselves.
 

• Create a strong password: The key aspects of a strong password are length (the longer the better); a mix of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols; with no ties to your personal information, and no dictionary words.
• Have different passwords for different sites: Attackers often exploit one service to gain access to another.  If you have different passwords for different sites, even if they have access to one site with your password, they won’t have access to the multitude of other sites that you have access to, such as your bank account or other personal accounts.
• Change your passwords every 90 days: This is good online hygiene to make sure that any breach you may not be aware of can be thwarted by making it more difficult for any attacker to gain access to your accounts.
• Change your password immediately when notified of any breach: Any time you hear of a breach at a website you have an account, you should immediately change your password to make sure that whatever information may have been breached is no longer valid.

As the the list of companies that haven't experienced a security breach grows shorter, take the necessary steps to ensure your own security and privacy online.