In the past day or so, several members have received emails from our membership management system (Wild Apricot) indicating that their passwords are due to expire.
These emails raise the obvious question: Is this email legitimate?
The answer is probably yes.
Why “probably”? Because it always pays to be suspicious and careful when receiving any similar email—and especially before you click on any included link.
Why “yes”? Because our membership management website has recently upgraded its password strength and recency requirements.
MWSA takes the privacy of our members seriously. We have safeguards in place to keep our members’ personal information safe, so we support this effort by Wild Apricot.
Although updating passwords is never “fun,” following these rules will help safeguard your personal information.
Our recommendation?
If you receive a password reset email, the easiest AND SAFEST thing to do is to go directly to our membership website, log in, and then reset your password yourself.
Here’s the link: https://militarywriterssocietyofamerica.wildapricot.org/Sys/Profile
Click to enlarge the image
Once you’re logged in, click on the blue silhouette near the top right of the page and then select “Change password” (see screenshot).
After clicking on that link, you’ll go to a page that will:
ask for your OLD password and
have you enter your NEW password twice.
The page lists the new password requirements (length, type of characters, etc.).
If you have any problems with your password reset, you can contact our membership team (membership@mwsa.co).
Are you comfortable with emails and links?
If you’re comfortable with emails and URLs (i.e., a little more tech-savvy), you can quickly assess the legitimacy of the email by following the following suggested steps:
1. BEFORE YOU CLICK, check:
The Sender: Military Writers Society of America <MilitaryWritersSocietyOfAmerica@wildapricot.org>
The link: the password reset link should look like this:
https://militarywriterssocietyofamerica.wildapricot.org/Sys/Password/Reset?id=___many characters here___&expired=TrueEnsure the link starts with the same characters above, up to the “Reset?id=” part.
Check that the written link (what you read) is the same as the actual embedded link (where the click will actually send you). Do this by hovering your mouse over the link. In most browsers or email clients, you’ll see a yellow highlighted version of the link on the bottom left of your screen. Make sure they’re the same.