Fwd: Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can't Protect Us Anymore | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

classic Classic list List threaded Threaded
1 message Options
Reply | Threaded
Open this post in threaded view
|

Fwd: Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can't Protect Us Anymore | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Owen Densmore
Administrator
Just to make sure it wasn't lost in the prior conversations, here's the Mat Honan hack:
    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/all/

Here's part:

Since that awful day, I’ve devoted myself to researching the world of online security. And what I have found is utterly terrifying. Our digital lives are simply too easy to crack. Imagine that I want to get into your email. Let’s say you’re on AOL. All I need to do is go to the website and supply your name plus maybe the city you were born in, info that’s easy to find in the age of Google. With that, AOL gives me a password reset, and I can log in as you.

First thing I do? Search for the word “bank” to figure out where you do your online banking. I go there and click on the Forgot Password? link. I get the password reset and log in to your account, which I control. Now I own your checking account as well as your email.

This summer I learned how to get into, well, everything. With two minutes and $4 to spend at a sketchy foreign website, I could report back with your credit card, phone, and Social Security numbers and your home address. Allow me five minutes more and I could be inside your accounts for, say, Amazon, Best Buy, Hulu, Microsoft, and Netflix. With yet 10 more, I could take over your AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. Give me 20—total—and I own your PayPal. Some of those security holes are plugged now. But not all, and new ones are discovered every day.

He also wrote: How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking

BTW: His PayPal mention is important, they apparently now offer 2-factor

   -- Owen

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com