Usernames and Online Security

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cinghiale
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Usernames and Online Security

Post by cinghiale »

I’d like to get a sense of the forum on the question of online security and some current talk about changing usernames as well as passwords. With the recent LastPass security scare, and are now reassessing all of the options available for tightening up our account access security.

Has anyone made a move to depersonalize a username (so often one’s full name in whole or in part) and make it more anonymous? If yes, did you create a variety of unique usernames for high priority accounts? (That, I have to say, sounds like a recipe for great complication and confusion.) Or are all the surrounding measures— password managers, two-factor authentication, online authentication apps, virtual private networks (VPNs)— enough?

All insights and accounts of your own decisions and experiences are appreciated.
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Parkinglotracer
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Parkinglotracer »

I vary my user name on each account so they are not easily guessed. Try to do the same with my passwords. I could do better.
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tuningfork
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by tuningfork »

I use a different username for each important account. I don't go so far as to make them random or totally depersonalized, but just make them different so that a hacker who discovers my username at one site won't be able to directly hack my account at another site. I definitely do NOT use any sort of algorithm or pattern based on the site (i.e. f123smith for Fidelity, v123smith for Vanguard, etc.).

I rely on my password manager to keep track of my username and strong random password at every site, and I use 2fa where available.
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BogleFanGal
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by BogleFanGal »

I find that many websites I must do business with have very restricted ability to change usernames. They require email on file or my account number as the format. Hopefully more sites will evolve to reflect stronger security practices and allow more user name customization.
gavinsiu
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by gavinsiu »

For financial sites, I have been moving to annoymize my login. Instead of my name, I pick a user name that isn't associated with me. With password manager, keeping track of them is no longer an issue.
rich126
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by rich126 »

At one time a lot of sites used your email address as your user ID. That turned out to be a bad idea since it made things much easier for hackers. Once a hacker got an email address and if they figured out the password then they would go to various web pages and try the user name/password and see if they got in. Often people used the same password for different web pages.

Ideally you don't want to make it easy for a hacker to link people from site to site since people still often use the same password.

This is also a reason why some sites when you try to log in incorrectly don't tell you if the user name is invalid or if the password is incorrect. If they state the password is incorrect then it tells a hacker the user name is in the data base.

The whole idea is to make things harder on the hacker, of course it often also makes the user's life a headache at times. Personally the two factor stuff drives me crazy because it often requires me access another electronic device as as my phone and if that is lost then I have major headaches.
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stan1
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by stan1 »

I've been changing the ones I have to something like:
Specialist7435 (word plus numbers)

Unique to each account. BitWarden has a user name generator that follows this convention. I store it in the password manager.

Main reason is to disassociate the user name from my name and email address.

Many sites still only use an email address, and I've seen some that previously used a user name switch to an email address. Vanguard's site says you can change the username if you contact them, I have not done that yet.
MarkVH0518
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by MarkVH0518 »

I am lucky enough to have a very memorable library card number, such that half the librarians I tell it to make a comment about it.
I tack the number onto my name or initials when creating new login ids.
It's not as good as using entirely different logins across accounts, but it is a 10 digit number and it can't be found on my credit report.

My real security in this regard is using a KeePass as a password manager and rely on only local copies and local transmissions.
No clouds and almost no internet.

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Swift
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Swift »

I use a unique username and a unique email for each login. Our email program (fastmail) allows you to create "masked" emails, so pretty much every business I interact with gets a unique email address for me. Usernames are also random, either weird words put together, or sometimes even just a password generated from my password program (in addition to a strong real password).
Domadosolo
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Domadosolo »

I have recently moved to completely irrational usernames which are partially stored in lastpass.
I manually add a unique n-char code to the username and password when actually logging in to the website.

When lastpass reported their breach, I yawned, because with this minor obfuscation, I have bought myself time to figure out what is breached before needing to act.

My printed codes are also useless to a potential break-in hacker.
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Silence Dogood
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Silence Dogood »

Has anyone changed their Vanguard username recently?

If so, what was the process like?
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Taylor Larimore
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Taylor Larimore »

Bogleheads:

I always stand behind what I say -- so from the beginning I have used my real name.

Taylor
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squirrel1963
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by squirrel1963 »

My username for financial accounts is a random alphanumeric string, different for each account.
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squirrel1963
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by squirrel1963 »

Taylor Larimore wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 8:16 pm Bogleheads:

I always stand behind what I say -- so from the beginning I have used my real name.

Taylor
Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom: "One of our most important values is candor--tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, with no strings attached, and let the chips fall where they may."
A distinction needs to be made for a username used on Bogleheads (where it's a personal choice whether to use a real name or not) and a username for financial accounts (banks, brokers and such). For the latter, the security best practice is to use a random alphanumeric string to make it difficult for hackers to guess it. In other words, treat your Schwab username in a manner no different than a password and store both in a password manager like Lastpass.
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squirrel1963
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by squirrel1963 »

In regard to the lastpass breach, the hackers at most could hold your encrypted data, so they would need to know your master password to decrypt it. Hopefully your master password is long and complex enough to make brute force decryption prohibitive.

Best thing to do is to change the master password as well as all the passwords and usernames of financial accounts. Also change password for email accounts and most of all make sure you have two factor authentication enabled for financial accounts and email. I'd also enable two factor Auth for social media if you have any.
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mhalley
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by mhalley »

As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by StrongMBS »

squirrel1963 wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:51 pm In regard to the lastpass breach, the hackers at most could hold your encrypted data, so they would need to know your master password to decrypt it. Hopefully your master password is long and complex enough to make brute force decryption prohibitive.

Best thing to do is to change the master password as well as all the passwords and usernames of financial accounts. Also change password for email accounts and most of all make sure you have two factor authentication enabled for financial accounts and email. I'd also enable two factor Auth for social media if you have any.
Great advice but first please check your accounts PBKDF2 Iterations value if it is not > 100,000 then make is so. And if this is 1 or 500 then get changing ALL your password in your vault NOW. If 5K at least make sure you change your important accounts NOW.

The OWASP’s 2021 guidance is 310,000 and if you have a relative current device this will cause minimum delay in logging in to your vault. Some other password manager vendors are even making this count 1,000,000, might be over kill but should cause little delay for most people.

https://support.lastpass.com/help/how-d ... r-lastpass
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squirrel1963
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by squirrel1963 »

StrongMBS wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 12:13 pm
squirrel1963 wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:51 pm In regard to the lastpass breach, the hackers at most could hold your encrypted data, so they would need to know your master password to decrypt it. Hopefully your master password is long and complex enough to make brute force decryption prohibitive.

Best thing to do is to change the master password as well as all the passwords and usernames of financial accounts. Also change password for email accounts and most of all make sure you have two factor authentication enabled for financial accounts and email. I'd also enable two factor Auth for social media if you have any.
Great advice but first please check your accounts PBKDF2 Iterations value if it is not > 100,000 then make is so. And if this is 1 or 500 then get changing ALL your password in your vault NOW. If 5K at least make sure you change your important accounts NOW.

The OWASP’s 2021 guidance is 310,000 and if you have a relative current device this will cause minimum delay in logging in to your vault. Some other password manager vendors are even making this count 1,000,000, might be over kill but should cause little delay for most people.

https://support.lastpass.com/help/how-d ... r-lastpass
Good tip thanks, I'll change it to 310K
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lthenderson
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by lthenderson »

95% of my accounts have the same username. But those accounts are all dispensable and there is little to no repercussions if accessed. The ones that mean the most to me have unique usernames provided I was allowed to create a unique one. I find many sites don't allow you this option. All passwords are random character strings created by a password manager.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by MarkBarb »

Most sites insist on using my email address as my username. None of my financial institutions do that. For them, I use randomly generated strings. I don't think it gives me much protection, but maybe a little.

I was doing the same for those secret question answers. Favorite color "ah23409@3ha2@#", but I changed approaches. My concern was that these are often verified by people and they may just see gibberish and accept different gibberish as matching. Now I use random words instead. Favorite color "pumpkin stereo". Once again, probably not much of a difference, but maybe it helps a little. I would certainly never answer those questions truthfully, particularly with regards to the public information stuff.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by JBTX »

mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
Yes. This is what I had to do.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by abuss368 »

Silence Dogood wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 8:06 pm Has anyone changed their Vanguard username recently?

If so, what was the process like?
I have done this and it was very easy. I contacted client services and they walked me through it.

I recommend you call Vanguard.

Best.
Tony
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Silence Dogood »

mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
Thanks, mhalley; I remember this thread.
abuss368 wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 8:35 pm
Silence Dogood wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 8:06 pm Has anyone changed their Vanguard username recently?

If so, what was the process like?
I have done this and it was very easy. I contacted client services and they walked me through it.

I recommend you call Vanguard.

Best.
Tony
Thanks for the response, Tony.

Do you remember if you had to re-establish your bank account information, automatic investments, beneficiaries, etc.?

(I'm guessing/hoping that only the username, password, and two-factor authentication needs to be re-established.)
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by abuss368 »

Silence Dogood wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:47 am
mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
Thanks, mhalley; I remember this thread.
abuss368 wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 8:35 pm
Silence Dogood wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 8:06 pm Has anyone changed their Vanguard username recently?

If so, what was the process like?
I have done this and it was very easy. I contacted client services and they walked me through it.

I recommend you call Vanguard.

Best.
Tony
Thanks for the response, Tony.

Do you remember if you had to re-establish your bank account information, automatic investments, beneficiaries, etc.?

(I'm guessing/hoping that only the username, password, and two-factor authentication needs to be re-established.)
All that stayed the same. Just the online login process was updated.

Best.
Tony
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stan1
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by stan1 »

JBTX wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 8:29 pm
mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
Yes. This is what I had to do.
Were ANY saved account settings lost when this was done, if anyone remembers?

Just a note Fidelity has a mechanism to change the username without needing to call customer service. I try to avoid human intervention whenever possible to lower risk of human error.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Bcdkgf »

squirrel1963 wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:43 pm My username for financial accounts is a random alphanumeric string, different for each account.
Ditto, I randomly open a book and take the last and first letter of each sentence.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by JBTX »

stan1 wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 11:36 am
JBTX wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 8:29 pm
mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
Yes. This is what I had to do.
Were ANY saved account settings lost when this was done, if anyone remembers?

Just a note Fidelity has a mechanism to change the username without needing to call customer service. I try to avoid human intervention whenever possible to lower risk of human error.
I don’t know what sort of account settings there are or are referring to. All of your personal account information is associated with vanguard. I don’t recall losing anything. If I did I guess I didn’t notice.
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dual
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by dual »

mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
What does going through the registration process involve? Is there a chance for you to copy and paste a random username without having to spell it out to the rep?
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Living Free »

JBTX wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 8:29 pm
mhalley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:52 pm As I recall you have to call vanguard to change username. They turn off your current access and then you re-register. Previous thread:
viewtopic.php?t=227449
What I did, and it worked, was to phone them. The customer service representative asked me some identifying questions, only one of which I thought was any good but maybe they have a strategy to throw pretenders off balance, I dunno; the person reset something or other, I went through the registration process and everything worked properly after that and still does.
Yes. This is what I had to do.
Just fyi, I changed my vanguard username probably within the past year and was able to do it online and it was easy/quick - so poke around on their website and hopefully you’ll find it. I changed it for security purposes as discussed in this thread
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

More anonymous than Annette Louisan and an iconic picture of a movie star? Well, backwards - if I wanted to kick it up a notch - it would be Ettenna Nasiuol. Has the benefit of sounding real. And I googled it and no one has claimed it. Wonder why? /s

But seriously it’s very easy to change user name and password on all accounts. Thank you to the mods for recommending we attend to this.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Silence Dogood »

Living Free wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:15 pm Just fyi, I changed my vanguard username probably within the past year and was able to do it online and it was easy/quick - so poke around on their website and hopefully you’ll find it. I changed it for security purposes as discussed in this thread
The Vanguard website indicates that I need to call in order to change my username.

I'd certainly prefer to not have to call, if possible...
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by dual »

Silence Dogood wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:36 am
Living Free wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:15 pm Just fyi, I changed my vanguard username probably within the past year and was able to do it online and it was easy/quick - so poke around on their website and hopefully you’ll find it. I changed it for security purposes as discussed in this thread
The Vanguard website indicates that I need to call in order to change my username.

I'd certainly prefer to not have to call, if possible...
It would be good to have more specific method than “poking around”. Has anyone else beside “living free” been able to change the Vanguard username without calling?
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by roamingzebra »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:19 pm More anonymous than Annette Louisan and an iconic picture of a movie star? Well, backwards - if I wanted to kick it up a notch - it would be Ettenna Nasiuol. Has the benefit of sounding real. And I googled it and no one has claimed it. Wonder why? /s
Ettena is great. I don't think you intended for us to think you're from Louisiana. Plus not all of us recognize the iconic picture. Now that I know you're not from Louisiana (having taken the time to read the fine print), I recognize the actor. :)
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by dual »

I poked around on the Vanguard website and couldn’t find a way to change the username. I can of course change the password. But that page of the security support section says that to change the username I have to re-register and to call them. I have a sort of unobvious username so I will not bother to change it.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Living Free »

dual wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:53 pm I poked around on the Vanguard website and couldn’t find a way to change the username. I can of course change the password. But that page of the security support section says that to change the username I have to re-register and to call them. I have a sort of unobvious username so I will not bother to change it.
Silence Dogood wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:36 am
Living Free wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 9:15 pm Just fyi, I changed my vanguard username probably within the past year and was able to do it online and it was easy/quick - so poke around on their website and hopefully you’ll find it. I changed it for security purposes as discussed in this thread
The Vanguard website indicates that I need to call in order to change my username.

I'd certainly prefer to not have to call, if possible...
I just was looking at their website and was unable to find a way to do it online presently, so either it's well hidden or they've removed that ability (or I'm losing my memory...)
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Silence Dogood »

I called Vanguard today in an attempt to change my username.

At first, the person I spoke with said that I couldn't change my username. But then she said that I could - but that I would be locked out of my account for seven days.

I wasn't confident in this answer, so I politely declined to take any action, and then I called back again.

The second person also said that I would be locked out for seven days. She explained that I would need to follow the "Sign up for online account access" link in order to de-register my online account, and then re-register again after waiting seven days.

I decided not to do this. Vanguard should simplify this process.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Marylander1 »

MarkVH0518 wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:31 pm I am lucky enough to have a very memorable library card number, such that half the librarians I tell it to make a comment about it.
I tack the number onto my name or initials when creating new login ids.
In my youth I had an account at a very local financial institution that issued sequential account numbers. After a couple of bank buyouts I had the privilege of going to an out-of-state branch of a regional megabank for a modest withdrawal, and gave my 3-digit account number. The teller said I needed to provide an "actual" account number, and I said "That is my account number, try typing it in." She was flabbergasted when it worked, and perhaps that is the closest I will experience to retail celebrity. Shortly thereafter they added a bunch of additional digits to all our account numbers.

I also knew of the person with account #2. He probably had even more enjoyment.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by Silence Dogood »

Silence Dogood wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 8:38 pm I called Vanguard today in an attempt to change my username.

At first, the person I spoke with said that I couldn't change my username. But then she said that I could - but that I would be locked out of my account for seven days.

I wasn't confident in this answer, so I politely declined to take any action, and then I called back again.

The second person also said that I would be locked out for seven days. She explained that I would need to follow the "Sign up for online account access" link in order to de-register my online account, and then re-register again after waiting seven days.

I decided not to do this. Vanguard should simplify this process.
Following up on my own post, in case this can help anyone else...

[I ended up calling Vanguard a third time, but was given the same information as above.]

I ended up changing my Vanguard username. I did not need to wait seven days to restore online account access - I was able to log back on immediately after changing my username.

As I suspected, there was a seven day hold placed on making withdrawals to an external account, but not on anything else.

I am confident that I understood all three of the Vanguard representatives correctly when they had stated that I would need to wait seven days for online access - I asked clarifying questions and I specifically asked if I would actually need to wait for seven days for online access, or if there would just be certain restrictions placed on what I could do. I am guessing that someone at Vanguard needs to update the reference guide that they use, as the representatives seemed to repeat the same thing.

Changing my username did not seem to change any of my other settings. In fact, I didn't even need to re-register my Yubikeys.

I still think that Vanguard should still simplify this process. Vanguard specifically states (on their website) to call in order to do this, when there is no reason to call (showing outdated calling hours, "8AM to 10PM"). Also, it should be possible to have a username that is longer than 12 characters.
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Re: Usernames and Online Security

Post by mark_in_denver »

Here is what ChatGPT says, it pretty much sums up my thoughts too:
Here are some tips for choosing secure usernames:

Avoid personal information: Avoid using your full name, email address, phone number, or any other personal information that can be easily linked to you in your username.

Make it unique: Use a unique username that isn't used by anyone else. Avoid using common words or phrases that can be easily guessed.

Use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols: A username that includes a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols is harder to guess and less vulnerable to hacking attempts.

Make it long enough: A longer username is more secure than a shorter one. Consider using a username that's at least 8 characters long.

Avoid easily guessable information: Avoid using easily guessable information, such as your birth year or the name of your pet, in your username.

Avoid reusing usernames: Don't reuse the same username for multiple accounts. If one account is compromised, all of your accounts with the same username could be at risk.

Keep it private: Don't share your username with anyone. It's important to keep it confidential to protect your online security and privacy.
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