Quote:Using one password for everything is convenient, but it’s also dangerously insecure. We examine the case of Mark, a young designer.

Mark is a regular guy. He has e-mail, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Steam, and Battle.net accounts, not to mention ones for another dozen online stores and a forum dedicated to his favorite video game. The accounts are all linked to his e-mail.

One day, the customer database of one of the online stores Mark has an account at suffers a leak (apparently it was kept unencrypted on an open-access server). No credit card information is stolen, but e-mail addresses, names, and passwords are. At first glance, there seems no particular reason to worry. Such leaks happen, and this is just a small online store — can you blame a humble shopkeeper for not being a cybersecurity expert?