With security conversations dominating news headlines over the past several weeks, we wanted to take the opportunity to provide you with an update on how TpT thinks about security along with some helpful tips for how you can keep your own information safe across the web.
Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of big news stories about information stored by large companies being accessed by unauthorized users. It’s more important than ever to make sure that you have strong, unique passwords across all of the sites you use.
Just recently, TpT experienced what we identified to be unauthorized parties attempting to log into accounts with what looked to be passwords compromised from other sites. If your account was impacted, we’ve reached out to you directly already. TpT quickly identified this issue and worked with the impacted individuals to reset their passwords and protect their accounts. We also took the extra step of retaining a leading forensics firm who confirmed that our systems showed no evidence of being compromised. This incident brought to mind the importance of spreading awareness to our educator community about protecting yourself online.
Here are a few tips to consider when reviewing your passwords:
- Make sure your password isn’t too simple like, “Password” or easily guessed like “TeachersAreAwesome” (we know they are! But use this as a social media hashtag, not as a password).
- Don’t use the same passwords across multiple sites.
- Remember to update old passwords that haven’t been changed in forever.
- Use a password manager like 1Password to help you create secure passwords and store passwords across websites you use.
- Use longer passwords, which are stronger and more secure. Passwords that are 10+ characters are recommended.
- Make passwords hard to guess. It’s best to avoid passwords that include information about you.
- Access your accounts only on trusted devices.
- If you aren’t following these guidelines, we strongly recommend that you update your passwords.
Your password is one of the best defenses against anyone trying to compromise your information, so make sure to take the important steps to protect it.
And here are the steps to reset your password on TpT:
Log into your account and hover over your name on the upper right.
- Click “My Account”
- Click “Account Basics”
- Click the Edit button
- Enter your current password
- Enter your new password
- Confirm your new password
- Scroll down and click Save
While it’s very important that you protect your account, we also wanted to let you know that we have a number of systems and monitoring processes to ensure our website is safe. For example, we take steps at login to prevent unauthorized individuals from getting into your account by limiting the number of login attempts before locking your account. Additionally, we don’t store your full credit card information on TpT.
Finally, we’re putting in place some new security safeguards. Here are some of the things our team is currently working on:
- Building additional layers of security at login to further protect access to your accounts.
- Providing additional measures at checkout to ensure transactions stay safe.
- Monitoring fraudulent/malicious activity at the network and application layers using advanced techniques.
TpT takes your security seriously. As with everything on TpT, we’re working hard to support educators everywhere. If you ever have any questions, concerns, or even ideas, please never hesitate to reach out to us directly at Support@TeachersPayTeachers.com.
