Why a security check is worthwhile
A password may be long and difficult to guess but still pose a risk if it has also been used for another service or has appeared in a known data breach. Attackers often use automated methods to try published combinations of email addresses and passwords at other services.
A security check should therefore assess more than whether a password looks ‘complex’. The most important factors are:
- sufficient length,
- use exclusively for suchen.expert,
- no easily guessed personal information or known patterns,
- no reuse of previous passwords or passwords used elsewhere,
- attention to reputable warnings about compromised sign-in details.
A check can reduce the risk but offers no guarantee against phishing, malware, loss of a device or an attack on the associated email account.
Check length and uniqueness
Check whether the password is long enough and used only for suchen.expert. A long password or passphrase is generally stronger than a short password that merely contains many predictable special characters.
Check in particular:
- Is the password also used for the email account, a shop, a social network or another service?
- Does it contain names, dates of birth, profile names, company details or other publicly available information?
- Does it consist of a familiar word, a number sequence or a keyboard pattern?
- Is it only a slightly modified version of a previous password?
- Could another person easily guess it from things you both know?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, replace the password with a long and completely new one. Guidance on creating one can be found in How do I create a secure password for my suchen.expert account?
Take password reuse particularly seriously
Reusing the same password is one of the greatest avoidable risks. If another service is compromised, the password used there may become known together with your email address. A unique password limits the potential damage to the affected service.
If you discover that the suchen.expert password is also used elsewhere:
1. First, secure the associated email account.
2. Set a completely new password for suchen.expert.
3. Change the reused password at all other affected services as well.
4. In future, use a unique password for every account.
Do not merely replace a compromised password with a variant containing an incremented number or an additional special character.
Heed warnings from browsers and password managers
Up-to-date browsers and password managers may indicate that stored sign-in details have been found in known data breaches or that the same password is used more than once. Such a warning does not necessarily mean that your suchen.expert account has been taken over. Nevertheless, it is a serious reason to change the affected password.
When you receive a warning, check:
- which service and email address it concerns,
- whether the affected password is still in use,
- whether it was also used for suchen.expert or the associated email account,
- whether the warning actually comes from the official interface of your browser or password manager.
Do not open unknown links in warning messages. If in doubt, navigate to the service concerned manually.
Never enter the real password on checking sites
Do not enter your current password on a third-party website that claims to check its strength or whether it has appeared in a data breach. Doing so could disclose the password in the first place.
Even a password check that looks professional does not prove that a website is trustworthy. For a general assessment, it is sufficient to check the length, uniqueness and recognisable patterns yourself or to use the security features of a trusted, up-to-date password manager.
Reputable services that provide notifications about known data breaches may require an email address, but not your actual password. Before using one, check the provider, web address and privacy information.
Interpret password-strength indicators correctly
A password-strength indicator can help identify obvious weaknesses. However, it cannot know whether you already use the same password for another service, whether another person knows it or whether it was obtained through phishing.
A password rated as ‘strong’ is therefore only useful if it is also unique and secret. You should not assume that suchen.expert automatically detects every weak pattern, reused password or previous disclosure.
Do not send the password to support
Support does not need to know your password for a security check or support request. Do not send it through the contact form or by email, message or screenshot.
A support review should be based on the account association, error messages, times and observed activity. Never disclose the following information:
- the current or a previous password,
- full activation or reset links,
- PINs, TANs or one-time verification codes,
- the master password for a password manager,
- sign-in details for the email or Google account.
If anyone claims that they need to know your password for a check, end the contact and use only the official contact form.
Change the password only for a specific reason
A strong and unique password does not need to be changed regularly solely according to a fixed calendar schedule. Frequent changes without a reason often lead to easily predictable variants and do not reliably improve security.
However, change the password immediately if:
- it may have appeared in a known data breach,
- you accidentally disclosed it or entered it on a suspicious website,
- it was also used at another service that was compromised,
- you notice unauthorised access or an unknown change to the account,
- a device that you used has been lost or may have been compromised,
- suchen.expert asks you to change it in the official account area for a specific security reason.
Instructions can be found in How do I reset my password?
Check the email account as well
The email account is particularly important for security because activation and recovery messages are often received there. A new suchen.expert password is not sufficient if another person still has access to the associated mailbox.
Therefore, also check the following for the email account:
- a long and unique password,
- unrecognised sign-ins or devices,
- changed recovery details,
- unrecognised forwarding rules,
- additional authentication, if the provider offers it.
Change the email password only through the provider’s official website or app.
Signing in with Google
For a personal account, signing in with Google can serve as both registration and activation. Such an account may not have a separate suchen.expert password in use.
In this case, check the security of the Google account. Use a unique Google password, review the security events shown there and enable additional authentication if it is offered. Change the Google password only through Google’s official pages or official app.
Never disclose Google passwords or Google verification codes to suchen.expert or anyone else.
Special considerations for a business account
Only appropriately authorised persons should have access to a business account. Check regularly whether the group of authorised persons is still current, particularly after a change of employees or external service providers.
Avoid openly sharing a common password by email or chat. Where appropriate, use a managed password manager to provide secure internal access, and revoke access from people who are no longer authorised.
If a previously authorised person knows the password and leaves the company, a new password should be set. Keep an internal record of who is responsible for managing the business account, but do not record the password itself in an unprotected form.
If you suspect a compromise
Act from a trusted device:
1. First, secure the linked email or Google account.
2. Reset the suchen.expert password using the official option.
3. Change a reused password at all other affected services as well.
4. End unrecognised or no-longer-needed sessions if an appropriate option is provided.
5. Check profile details, listings, messages and other visible account activity for unauthorised changes.
6. Retain relevant emails, error messages and times as evidence.
7. Inform suchen.expert using the contact form.
Detailed instructions can be found in What should I do if I suspect unauthorised access to my account?
Tell support the registered email address, the account type, the approximate time of the unusual activity and the changes observed. Do not disclose secrets or unnecessary personal data. Further information about the processing of account and security data can be found in the Privacy Policy.
