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The Dropbox hack is real

troyhunt.com

241–250 of 557 posts

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#241
post #226
post #203

> As for Dropbox, they seem to have handled this really well. I'm biased, but I can't agree with this. From what I can tell, there are two communications from Dropbox -- one in 2012 [1] and one last week [2]. In 2012 they did not disclose that hashes were stolen, so I don't see how it's really relevant. In the latest communication, they don't actually explain the risk to the user. They say it is "purely as a preventa…

>> "Users need to know their passwords are exposed, and must be reset not as a preventative measure, but because they are almost certain to be compromised." This should be assumed regardless of what is known if it's know a breach happened; meaning basic password hygiene should be followed, and I'm the case of Dropbox, if a user had any plaintext files with passwords to other accounts (yes, people still do this) - the…

Right, but you're assuming optimal response from every Dropbox user, when I'd assume the vast majority of Dropbox users aren't aware of best password practices (or are aware and only change passwords when forced anyway because 'I have nothing to hide'). The severity of the breach means Dropbox should be forcing password changes. I didn't even receive an e-mail notifying of the breach. Nothing in the spam filters, it's just not there. The only reason I'm aware of it is Troy Hunt, and the only reason I'd ever be aware of it is that. I was getting ready to leave dropbox anyway, this just reasserted that it's the correct decision.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#242
post #227

What really bothers be about this is that Dropbox hasn't bothered to reset the sessions. Even after I manually reset my password (which I wasn't prompted or forced to do btw), all my apps (iPhone, desktop etc) that have existing sessions wasn't expired. So for all I know, a hacker might already have an open session to my Dropbox and changing the password will not fix that Clarification edit: I did receive the e-mail…

https://www.dropbox.com/account#security

Unlink the device to restart the session.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#243
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot agree more, I do the same, and invite everyone else to do so. - Useful as a canary of which website has been breached - Useful as a canary of which website sold your details - and if your details are in the wild, you can stop the spam by deleting the address Credit cards should work the same way: a unique authorization code specific to this vendor or this transaction and useless to any other actor.

Re: credit cards, unless you insist on using debit cards for some reason, who cares if they are compromised. If someone steals my credit card, AMEX has a problem. I'll take reasonable care, but I'm not going to generate transaction specific numbers or whatever unless there is a strong incentive to do so.

and AMEX passes the cost of that problem to all AMEX customers. You are still paying for it in the end.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#244
post #227

What really bothers be about this is that Dropbox hasn't bothered to reset the sessions. Even after I manually reset my password (which I wasn't prompted or forced to do btw), all my apps (iPhone, desktop etc) that have existing sessions wasn't expired. So for all I know, a hacker might already have an open session to my Dropbox and changing the password will not fix that Clarification edit: I did receive the e-mail…

I'm a lead at Syncplicity, a prominent competitor. Early in my career at Syncplicity I changed all of our desktop clients to use long-lived sessions that do not reset when the user's password is changed.

For us, this is deliberate for a few reasons. Most of our customers authenticate via their employer's SSO (single sign on) and do not use any Syncplicity password management. We also do not believe that routine password maintenance should force someone to run around and re-authenticate all their computers. (Like Dropbox, a user can log into our web site and remove computers from their account.)

I do understand the argument that a password change should force a re-authentication on all clients; but I don't think it's the right approach. Changing a password is reactionary and preventative. An email notification will inform a user that his or her account is compromised.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#245

If find this just interesting that just last week my steam account was successfully logged in from Russia (I'm in the UK). Looks like I forgot about Steam to make my passwords stronger.

I turn on 2FA wherever I can now. If only steam supported modern 2FA and not sending a code via email.

They do-- IF you own an Android or iOS phone. If you own a Windows Phone, you're just screwed.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#246
post #40
post #26

It was pretty obvious the dropbox hack was real several years ago, because lots of spam mail started arriving at my dropbox-unique email almost immediately after the breach. I changed my email to another unique address quickly back then. Unique-per-service email addresses work pretty well as a canary for breaches. Just make sure there is more uniqueness than just the service name to such addresses, or someone could s…

I cannot agree more, I do the same, and invite everyone else to do so. - Useful as a canary of which website has been breached - Useful as a canary of which website sold your details - and if your details are in the wild, you can stop the spam by deleting the address Credit cards should work the same way: a unique authorization code specific to this vendor or this transaction and useless to any other actor.

"a unique authorization code specific to this vendor or this transaction and useless to any other actor"

Sounds a lot like a bitcoin address.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#247
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unique-per-service email addresses work pretty well and they're so easy with Gmail - anything following a '+' character after your username (or alias, if using your own/company domain) will go to the same box, but keep the distinct address. Unfortunately, depressingly many sites validate email fields, and get it wrong - thinking '+' is not allowed. IMO it's not even worth trying to get an email regex (or other vali…

Other services also let you use the alias as a subdomain: example@alias.gmail.com. Wish Gmail added that feature. Do they have any place I can sent a feature request? Another feature of Gmail is you can place dots anywhere in your email and it will still reach you: ex.am.ple@gmail.com. I haven't seen services that reject that so it is what I use when I can't use a +.

I host my email with FastMail who allow the use of subdomains. This is a great feature, and I use it frequently.

HOWEVER, you should only do so after careful consideration. This will restrict moving your email hosting to the limited number of providers who provide provide this type of service, or hosting your own server.

Alternatively, you could go and reset your email address with all of the services that you gave a subdomain email.

For myself, I have been using FastMail for years and feel confident that I will continue to use their services. In the event that I needed to move from FastMail, I know that could self host if forced to.

Re: The Dropbox hack is real

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just sync my 1Password via WiFi between my phone, work computer and personal computer. It's really not that much work either. Well worth keeping the vault of the internet.

What tools do you use for syncing the files? Thanks.

1Password has this builtin to all their clients so nothing other than 1Password itself is used to sync.
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