Yahoo! Archives - John Sileo, Cyber Security Training

Yahoo Hacker Wake-up Call WILL FAIL (Data Breach)

A hacking group known as D33Ds Company leaked about 453,000 hacked email addresses and passwords of Yahoo Voices users in order to send a “wake up call” about poor data security practices at Yahoo. The information posted online was NOT restricted to YahooMail login credentials, but included Gmail, Hotmail, Aol and Yahoo user information. In the past few weeks, there have been similar breaches at LinkedIn, eHarmony, Formspring, Nvidia, and AndroidForum. Whazzzup?

Corporations are clearly ignoring warnings that are now commonplace from privacy and security experts: protect your customer data or lose stock value, subscribers and ultimately, your brand reputation.

The average business will NOT take responsibility for preventing a similar breach of their data until AFTER THEY GET HIT. Which is why 95% of companies will hit the snooze button on the wake-up call.

How Secure is Your Gmail, Hotmail, YahooMail?

I just finished an interview with Esquire magazine about the security of webmail applications like Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and YahooMail. Rebecca Joy, who interviewed me on behalf of Esquire, wanted to know in the wake of the Rupert Murdoch phone-hacking scandal, how secure our photos and messages are when we choose to use free webmail programs.

The simple answer? Not very secure. Just ask Vanessa Hudgens (nude photos), Sarah Palin (complete takeover of her email account) and the scores of celebrities and power figures who have been victimized by email hacking.

Think of using webmail (or any web-based software, including Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, etc.) as checking into a hotel room. Unlike a house, where you have tighter control over your possessions, the same is not true of a hotel. While you definitely own the items you bring into a hotel room (laptop, smartphone, wallet, passport, client files), you don’t have nearly as much control as to how they are accessed (maids, managers, social engineers who know how to gain access to your room). In short, by using webmail to communicate, you are exchanging convenience for control.

Facebook Installs a Panic Button for Children

According to a recent Yahoo! article, Facebook has created a new “Panic Button” for London users to help protect children on the social networking site. This new function gives the youngsters the ability to easily report a problem or suspicious activity to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and Facebook.

The Panic Button will automatically appear on the homepage of users between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. Recently Facebook has been scrutinized because of their relaxed privacy controls and lack of protection for all users, including children. This marks another effort by Facebook to attempt to calm users concerns and team up with other organizations to offer protection to younger participants. In the US, Facebook is teaming up with the Parent Teacher Association to help keep children informed and safe while using the website.