Privacy, Who Needs Privacy? Part II

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In a cautionary tale for users of social-networking sites, a California man has admitted using personal information he gleaned from Facebook to hack into women's e-mail accounts, then send nude pictures of them to everyone in their address book.

Back in the day, when nobody knew what you could accomplish with a simple little password and some time, hackers did some pretty good damage.  Back then there wasn't much to be had, the world was still not moving en masse to digital records and the Internet wasn't much more than a bunch of vanity pages.  Nobody really learned about social engineering, because everything got technical and viruses became the new way to steal information or damage computers.

I think it's okay to say at this day and age that we are wise to the virus game. Everyone has antivirus and most run scans.  So why is this still such a problem?  Because we're stupid, that's why.  Our personal information can be used against us, to guess answers to security questions, or to fool someone into giving out another crumb of information to be used later.  I protect accounts at work and adhere to strict rules.  You have no idea how many times someone "forgets" something unrealistic like their mother's maiden name and then tells me they have their SSN, birthdate, etc.  With Facebook, you just have to get friended and then you can zoom over to mom's site and see if her maiden name is listed.

Three simple things can throw a major wrench in this problem.  It's not the super tech-locked that are giving away secrets, it's the mass public that either doesn't know how to be secure or is just too lazy to go through the motions.  All I'm saying is for a few minutes a year you can not only protect yourselves, but the people you may unknowingly expose.  You don't have to be interesting to be a target, and with networks like Facebook and email correspondence, you are dragging other people into your mess.

1. Change your password at least twice a year.  Yes, the one you use for everything.  Do not write it down. If you are ever tempted to write it down, don't.  Seriously.  Go to step 2.

2. Click here to read a short but perfect article on how to create a solid password that meets everyone's requirements and is easy to remember.  So you don't ever have to write it down.

3. Wash, rinse, repeat.  Get used to the idea of protecting your passwords, and get some street sense for protecting your private information.  The next wave of stolen data and personal invasion is coming from folks being careless, not a cackling 14-year-old in a basement.