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Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

nikcub.com

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Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#2
I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died:

> Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts.

> If I were a big organization with confidential information, I'd really be thinking hard about my cloud policies and my BYOD policies right now. The policy at my previous employer (we handled a lot of extremely sensitive information), was pretty draconian: data never leaves a company desktop, laptop, or blackberry.

The fact that the users may be the biggest security leak is more alarming than it is relieving. Software bugs can be fixed. Getting users to follow proper security practices is much harder. And frankly, it doesn't help that the industry is actively user hostile. I gmail my passwords to myself because every site has different password rules and force me to change my passwords too often.

Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#3
post #2

I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died: > Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts. > If I were a big organization with confidential info…

Dude. 1Password. Switching to using it for everything was one of the single smartest things I did this year.

I agree with you about the wider industry problem, but for your own personal use just start using a password manager. Just do it.

Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#4
post #3
post #2

I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died: > Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts. > If I were a big organization with confidential info…

Dude. 1Password. Switching to using it for everything was one of the single smartest things I did this year. I agree with you about the wider industry problem, but for your own personal use just start using a password manager. Just do it.

>Dude. 1Password.

Password managers only protect against certain kinds of attack. Many cloud services do not or can not properly encrypt their users' data, so having a strong password won't help in the event that your cloud provider's datacenter gets rooted.

Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#5
post #2

I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died: > Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts. > If I were a big organization with confidential info…

> data never leaves a company desktop, laptop, or blackberry.

That's not all that draconian. Data never leaves the servers, full stop. (Other than for back-up purposes and those had better be encrypted.)

Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#6
post #3
post #2

I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died: > Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts. > If I were a big organization with confidential info…

Dude. 1Password. Switching to using it for everything was one of the single smartest things I did this year. I agree with you about the wider industry problem, but for your own personal use just start using a password manager. Just do it.

Couldn't agree more: I look at the max allowed number of characters on website X and I ask 1Password to generate a password of that length with whatever complexity the website allows (so preferably numbers and symbols if allowed).

Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#8
post #3
post #2

I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died: > Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts. > If I were a big organization with confidential info…

Dude. 1Password. Switching to using it for everything was one of the single smartest things I did this year. I agree with you about the wider industry problem, but for your own personal use just start using a password manager. Just do it.

Installed! I guess I knew I should use a password manager, but the analysis paralysis of figuring out which one to use is crippling. I just want someone to tell me what to do!

Re: Notes on the Celebrity Data Theft

#10
post #3
post #2

I wrote this in the other thread on the leak before it died: > Even if the leaks result from one at a time social engineering, it still really calls into question the practical security of the cloud. I doubt it's much harder to steal, e.g. confidential business documents from executives' cloud accounts than it is to steal pictures from celebrities' cloud accounts. > If I were a big organization with confidential info…

Dude. 1Password. Switching to using it for everything was one of the single smartest things I did this year. I agree with you about the wider industry problem, but for your own personal use just start using a password manager. Just do it.

1Password and last pass are pretty awesome. Some people don't want to use a 3rd party and for those, I suggest KeePass databases at the very least.

I have all my two-factor reset keys in KeePassX at home and all normal passwords in last pass.

I actually lost a two factor code for Linode when I lost my phone with the Google authenticator app on it and having those reset codes in KeePassX was a life saver.

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