The Scope of the Problem
Given the recent events in the internet security world, I am pleading with you to secure your online identity. For those just joining the fray:
- The most troubling story is of Mat Honan, Senior Reporter for Wired magazine, who was targeted for his @mat Twitter handle:
In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.
- In August, Blizzard’s online gaming network Battle.net was hacked and email addresses and answers to personal security questions were accessed
- Also in August, MLB’s Facebook page had a false posting that Derek Jeter would undergo sex-change surgery
- In July, 450,000 Yahoo Voice usernames and passwords were publicly posted
- Three times in August, there were false reports regarding the current events in Syria posted to Reuters, the world’s largest multimedia news agency
- In June, 6.4 million LinkedIn usernames and encrypted passwords (and 300,000 decrypted passwords) were leaked online
I’m sure you’ve seen commercials like these regarding identity theft, and, funny as they are, they probably leave you slightly troubled… even if you think “that could never happen to me” (NB: I don’t have Citibank Identity Protect and do not endorse their particular product in any way).
