Twitter, Sony, Google - and now Nintendo have all apparently been targets of hacking attacks in recent times. 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13626104

There are experts out there warning us to be careful about putting our data into the 'cloud' but the BBC article above should tell us something far more fundamental. 

That is that using the same password for numerous different accounts is just plain stupid and that username password based systems are fundamentally flawed unless there is a level of encryption going on behind the scenes.

I mean for those of us who have a Yahoo or Hotmail (or maybe even Google now) mail program, how many have had to apologise to our contacts that they have received a message that wasn't from us because someone has hacked into our account? I know I have................

Chip & pin or at 2 factor authentication is the only way forwards for accessing anything out there in cyberspace.

And for recruiters, are you using an online database that is just accessed via username and password? It is...........ok, don't come running to me when someone steals your data - the lifeblood of your business. Or, if you are not using an online database, how many of you are using Windows password manager to store the vital information.

Last year there were thousands of laptops, mobile devices etc left in airports and taxis around the world. I bet every single one of them had an embarrassed owner wondering exactly what exposure was going to result from the loss.

So, note to self; change my passwords regularly and use a different one for each service (same goes for PIN numbers) and don't store them in password manager.

Alternatively, I could use an online provider that is committed to 2 factor authentication :-)

Simple.