I read this week where a hacker managed to get into journalist Matt Honan Apple iCloud account and from there it was just a hop-skip-and and jump to get into his Amazon account, Facebook, Twitter, and his Google accounts. Read his account here.
Not only did the hacker delete the journalist's blog, but he also deleted all his Google Documents, and his Gmail account.
Once the hacker broke into the journalists Gmail account, he was able using what he found to hack into his Twitter account and start sending our racist and homophobic tweets.
Then the hacker proceeded to wipe the data from journalist's MacBook, his iPad and iPhone. All of his digital data stored in "the cloud" was deleted, included a year's worth of photos of his baby daughter.
Reading this story was a wakeup call for me. I immediately took action to tighten security of my Google accounts and also added an additional layer of backups that I store offline.
Even with added security, I think we are all at risk. As technology emerges and we all race to climb on board, there will be those who try (and succeed) to exploit it.
It was not my intention to for this post to be a downer, but I think it behooves us all to have a plan to deal with a worse-case scenario.
Not only did the hacker delete the journalist's blog, but he also deleted all his Google Documents, and his Gmail account.
Once the hacker broke into the journalists Gmail account, he was able using what he found to hack into his Twitter account and start sending our racist and homophobic tweets.
Then the hacker proceeded to wipe the data from journalist's MacBook, his iPad and iPhone. All of his digital data stored in "the cloud" was deleted, included a year's worth of photos of his baby daughter.
Reading this story was a wakeup call for me. I immediately took action to tighten security of my Google accounts and also added an additional layer of backups that I store offline.
Even with added security, I think we are all at risk. As technology emerges and we all race to climb on board, there will be those who try (and succeed) to exploit it.
It was not my intention to for this post to be a downer, but I think it behooves us all to have a plan to deal with a worse-case scenario.
I remember a number of years ago when Toni Morrison's house burned down, taking with it a novel she was writing. We all need to keep copies of everything important in a different location than the original.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
But why would anyone keep the only copies of irreplaceable photos on a cloud format? That's just silly.
ReplyDeleteEEK! That is a bit scary. I always have copies and external hard drive things and actual paper prints of stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's so amazing to me the length people will go to hurt others..and so much knowledge involved in doing the dirty deed..if that were used for good we could probably wipe out cancer, the national debt, reality tv and other junk in this crazy world!
ReplyDeleteThat is scary. So mean. Gonna check with my husband. He assures me we are safe when I mention this kind of thing. thanks.
ReplyDeleteA good reminder. It's easy to become complacent. It's hard for me to understand why anyone would derive pleasure from doing something like that.
ReplyDeleteSo scary!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Yaya!!