You always hear that you have to be really careful about what information you have online. After recent revelations surrounding Apple’s customer service security protocols (and most probably other companies’ as well) though you’re going to want to be really really really careful.
Wired journalist Mat Honan was targeted by hackers simply because he had a three character Twitter account. He was reasonably cautious with his data and passwords, but some clever social engineering bypassed the need for stolen passwords or bruteforce hacking. With a few simple phone calls to Apple and Amazon and access to publicly available information they were able to get passwords reset, use their newfound access to get into other accounts, and eventually remotely take control of Mat’s iPhone, iPad, .me account, and Twitter account.
It’s scary to think about how vulnerable your information can be (Mat lost all the pictures he had of his daughter’s first year), but there are a few things to remember.
- Back things up! Even if you’re on the cloud its critical you back up your most important data to disconnected storage with regularity.
- Don’t use the same passwords! If someone finds one, they’ll have access to your entire online persona.
- Don’t be obvious! If every email address is yourname@somewhere.com then things can be guessed a little too easily.
- 2 Factor Authentication!Google supports it and others are starting to as well. It may be slightly more annoying to deal with but it’s dramatically more secure.
Be safe!
The Commative Team