Sorry to hear your account was hijacked.  As an IT professional I have to say the use of "stong" passwords are vital in our cyberworld.  With identity theft and cyber crime on the rise it is vital to keep ourselves protected these days.  I hope it was nothing serious and easily resolved.  While not easy to maintain it is important to follow the following password practices.

 

*Never have your PC and online account passwords the same

*Maintain different passwords for each vital account, banks, email, shopping sites, etc.

*Refresh your passwords every 60 to 90 days

*Never keep your passwords in your wallet, on your desk, or in a file on your PC or online, keep it in a safe place not easily found

*Passwords should be 8 or more characters in length and include numbers, letters, and/or special characters if permitted and never easy to guess names or digits.  I use license plates not associated with me or my family and a specific code to make the password 10 characters in length, making it very hard to crack

*Tie all online accounts to an email you only access and use for that purpose (so attackers and don't request a password re-set from your banks, other accounts, etc if they break into one of your online accounts)

*Know where to go to protect your online accounts if they are ever hacked, have a list of the sites and review it when you change your passwords to ensure they are still current, remember nothing can ever be 100% safe, but the harder it is to crack the safer you are

*Never use an online password generator unless you personally know all the people working at that website

*Make these steps part of a regular routine, while they are a hasstle, they are good practices for your protection and with all the stories of stolen laptops, hacked accounts, ebay scams, etc. it is important to keep yourself protected online as you do offline, like keeping your house, car, and valuables locked.