Hacking the cloud

[hazelnut]

Frightning account here of an iphone user who has lost everything, his accounts, gmail, twitter even all his computer data just because the hackers could.

 

And why could they? Because Apple and Amazon made it easy for them.

 

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/all/

[Winapp2.ini]

Stuff like this is why I don't support the full reliance on the cloud that many others seem to. I'm secure in the fact that my 2.8TiB of data I've on my drives can't be compromized just because someone gained access to my dropbox account or something.

[Super Fast]

I agree, Winapp2.

 

I have a generalized trust of public companies & public data, but I have a generalized distrust of public companies & private data. Too many things can go wrong.

Temptation to mis-use customer data is too great for some people. Even if they COULD be trusted, the people that connect to their services can't always be.

[Andavari]

He shouldn't have had everything so interlinked like that. Live and learn.

[harbin91]

TBH this is why I don't believe in Cloud computing for the everyday user. Yes I have a dropbox account, but I don't put everything on there... only the one or two things I do need to share with other PCs.

 

In the business environment, it would only be useful for private networks and strongly encrypted VPNs. In fact, in some business environments, cloud-computing has been around for quite a while with file and print servers, but this is another example of why I don't like Cloud computing. Apparently Microsoft wants everything stored in the cloud so you can log onto Windows whereever you are, or something like that. Problem is that it requires a constant internet connection, which is not guarunteed, it requires a fast internet connection, again, not possible, and I don't like the feeling that I'm not in control of my data. Like the guy in the article, his stuff was stored on the server, should that've been bank details, he would've been a victim of ID fraud aswell. If I back up my files, it's not to a cloud service, but to an external harddrive, connected locally through USB. Data stored on an external USB drive won't be lost unless someone physically breaks in and steals it. Even then, if it contains important data, it's likely to be bitlocked.

 

Yes, the guy is somewhat at fautl for having everything linked together so easily, one reason why I'm tempted to go towards using a password manager, and having randomly generated passwords for every site, instead of the three different passwords I use now, but you should also wonder how Apple and Amazon allowed themselves to be targetted like that. UK law states that data has to be securely stored. If that wasn't securely stored, and the sounds of it Apple and Amazon didn't, they are breaking the law as much as the hacker. Granted hackers are always looking for ways to circumvent encryption (I believe 256bit AES has been broken now), but security companies should atleast try to stay one step ahead of the game.

[TheWebAtom]

I love cloud computing. It's nice having access to all of my data; wherever I am with whatever device I'm currently using. For example; I'm currently 15,000 miles away from my home; accessing the internet on a my smartphone. Even though my hard drive is so far away, all of my email, bookmarks, calendar items, contacts, media/files and RSS feeds are available.

 

That said; I always make sure that I have multiple ways of accessing that data, even if a cloud service goes down. I've configured Gmail to automatically forward all of my mail to a server on the other side of the world. My contacts are stored locally on all devices and synced with my Google Account. All of my Twitter tweets are archived using a script running on another server. All of my files are stored in Dropbox; which is synced with a Network Attached Storage device on my home network. This means the contents of my hard drive is still accessible worldwide; even if my dropbox account is hacked.

 

TL;DR: Cloud is great; but have a contingency.

[hazelnut]

Apple and Amazon have tightened their password reset.

 

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-icloud-password-freeze/

 

Looks like Amazon need a bit more tightening, a guy ordered a TV and was sent an assult rifle!

 

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/tv-amazon-assault-rifle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Top+Stories%29

[harbin91]

Looks like Amazon need a bit more tightening, a guy ordered a TV and was sent an assult rifle!

 

http://www.wired.com...+Top+Stories%29

 

And people say the US hasn't got a gun problem

[login123]

...Looks like Amazon need a bit more tightening, a guy ordered a TV and was sent an assult rifle! ...

 

He said "40 inch plasma TV" ... They heard "40 watt plasma rifle" ...

[Andavari]

Looks like Amazon need a bit more tightening, a guy ordered a TV and was sent an assult rifle!

 

I didn't even know Amazon sold guns. They've sent me the wrong stuff before multiple times, but nothing that drastic.

[Winapp2.ini]

Here's hoping that I don't get an assault rifle from someone on r/random_acts_of_amazon

[Andavari]

I think they misunderstood how to protect their customers, no there's no need for an assault rifle - just tidy up password security.

[hazelnut]

I think they misunderstood how to protect their customers, no there's no need for an assault rifle - just tidy up password security.

 

:lol:

[Winapp2.ini]

I think they misunderstood how to protect their customers, no there's no need for an assault rifle - just tidy up password security.

 

Or at least give them handguns, they're much easier to hold!

[harbin91]

Bit of a bump but yeah...

 

Amazon probably saw

and thought if they sold more guns, more people would be pissed off with their devices and would shoot them in protest so they bought new ones off Amazon.