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Hacking and more hacking ...

NorthSky

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http://uk.businessinsider.com/verti...lions-from-1100-websites-forums-stolen-2016-6

Recently I have read that over 1,100 websites have been hacked, involving some 45 million registered members, and including some audio websites.
Twitter accounts with over 32 million passwords? → http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/10/11900792/twitter-locks-some-accounts-password-leak-not-hacked

I am not a computer expert, I'm just reading the news that we can use.
I don't know if you guys read similar news as I, but early this year, apparently, there was some websites hacked.
Back in January and in February, some of those sites could well be some of the ones you are registered with an account.

Do you know how to verify that? → https://www.leakedsource.com/
https://www.leakedsource.com/blog/verticalscope

Furthermore, passwords are sensitive, and changes are happening; did you read about the news?

What is your overall take? ...Amir, I would love to know your take on this, and if you need more info I can provide it to you.

Do you guys have a Twitter account? ....Facebook account? ...Instagram account?
Do you know all the ins and outs of security breach within some Internet companies?
Websites all over the world are run by media companies; do you know the most and less secured ones?

Did you read about the latest news from some of the sites you frequent? Are you a registered member somewhere with a hacked account? Did you receive info regarding a change of password?

Thanks for reading and cheers, ...news we can all use.
_________

http://www.zdnet.com/article/hacker...reds-of-verticalscope-car-tech-sports-forums/
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...xposes-45-million-accounts-and-1-000-websites
http://jalopnik.com/45-million-accounts-hacked-at-some-of-the-biggest-car-f-1782030203

By the way, the company running ASR's website seems to be more solid.
We are only 150 of us here in the forums but we are safe. :)
{Because of the science of audio, technologies in the latest visual and auditory developments, the love of music and cinema and arts and nature and people, the acceptance of analog and digital, the appreciation of objective and subjective analyses, and the safety of this site, we should be 150,000 members by now...I truly think.}
 
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RayDunzl

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Who cares. You think my passport says Ray Dunzl?

Hint:


Or maybe I'm this guy:

https://www.facebook.com/faik.akkount.5

I signed up for that account the day FB put out the big news that they were cleaning up all their fake accounts years ago in preparation to fleece the public with their IPO. I have another account too:

https://www.facebook.com/arfen.barf

But I don't use it either.

Lastly, I run my own SMTP server for mail, and can use any name I want when "registering" for some silly reason at some silly site, like here. If the address falls into the hands of the spammers then I can easily block/delete any mail coming to that address.

I usually use the name of the site as my user name, just to see which ones hand out the user addresses. Very very few actually do, in my obviously limited experience, but I still maintain my general anonymity just in case.

My email address here is asr@myserveraddress, for example. My password gets away? Fine, it's not the one I use for important stuff, anyway.

Someone tries to impersonate me? Unlikely. Who would be so foolish.
 
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NorthSky

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Oh but that's the point Ray, I don't care either and that's why I started this thread. ;)

I've read that the Russians hacked emails traffic of people of interest, like ........
To help them build a better world. :D

Anyway, I always wanted to be a better person with more to share, so this might help others to improve my post count and with new material of interest in our audio science world. :)

* Passwords, email addresses, IP addresses, usernames, birthdays, Twitter, Facebook, cars, jewelry, tra-la-la ... all stuff we can use and dispense with suspense. :D

But those links above are still what's making some of the news recently. And I was curious if others were aware and what they make of it.
I should have started a poll: How Do You React to those News?
1. I don't care.
2. I care a lot.
3. I care a little.
4. I care medium (50/50).
5. I don't read the news.

Usually we always prefer to refer to our own selves. Very rarely that we like to refer to us as a group; that's more for the people running the countries and other people. It's human nature...@ its best and worst...both together. The values in life that we learn to care for and cherish; are values of many colors and people and heart and soul and spirit from all over the world. The Internet, the social gatherings, the dating sites, the audio forums, the houses hunting, the cars industry, the travel agencies, the music groups and their fan clubs, the food youtube channels, the history tube channel, the plane tickets, the jobs available in your areas, the software creators, the hardware designers, the computer gurus, the all that there is in the world of internet security...all of it...everything is important.

You think?
 
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amirm

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What is your overall take? ...Amir, I would love to know your take on this, and if you need more info I can provide it to you.
Other than Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, I don't think there is any other site that you can trust to be safe. You should assume that your information is frequently exposed and be on guard that way.
 

RayDunzl

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Back when I looked, I saw Chinese addresses hitting my firewall every day. That was a long time ago. You'd think they'd have something better to do with their time.
 
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NorthSky

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vBulletin is still used by many websites and companies. ...Like VerticalScope from Ontario, Canada.

Who runs Facebook and Twitter? Twitter last week had 32,000,000 passwords stolen. I thought Twitter was a big social thing where people are safe and secured?
Should we give our passport number and picture to Facebook?

I think it's safer walking across the street over the bridge than walking on the bridge's steel cables.
...Meaning having a pint @ your local pub than having a faint online.

I am not amused on where we're @ in the year 2016; our freedom has been severely impeded. And with it our dignity, our honor, our respect, our values.

Amir you are right; in a materialistic world the ones we can truly trust are very very few.
Cars, electronics, dating sites, jewelry stores, strip joints, liquors, alcohol, cigarettes, morphine, cocaine, heroin, health care, identity thefts, credit cards, password numbers, bank accounts, housing market, stock markets, oil, air, water, wind, sun, waves, armies, tanks, jet planes, helicopters, boats, condominiums, vegetables, food industry, pharmaceuticals, pills, control agencies, pests, pets, insurance policies, natural disasters, San Andreas fault, Bermuda triangle, casinos, women fashion clothing designers, perfumes, lipsticks, facelifts, shoes, sports, banned substances, advertising, audio cables, furniture, swimming pools, restaurants, ... all more or less trusty. :)

More to the point: is there something wrong with an old system like vBulletin in the year 2016?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VBulletin
 

cjf

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For those interested:

Free onetime use email addresses
https://anonbox.net

If your really paranoid you could access the email account via TOR tunneled thru a VPN service of you choosing. In this day and age I recommend using a VPN whenever possible to put a little distance between your real self and the Wild West Internet ;)
 

DonH56

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AVS posted a note and supposedly sent emails though I have not received one (yet). I tend to use weaker passwords for forums like this where I figure it does not matter too much (and I hate having to pull up my password program and type in a 20-character random mess just to read a bunch of audio or trumpet posts). Other sites I use much stronger passwords, natch, and use an encrypted program to save them.

Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo mail etc. I do not use but have friends and family who do and there have been a few times they've been notified of unauthorized use and such.

I've gotten caught up in a number of hacks and ID theft issues the past couple of years, a huge problem I wish someone could fix. The Anthem hack also caught the rest of the family, and now I'm paying for extra monitoring even though opinions are very mixed. The gov't is also providing monitoring but it looks pretty lame to me and didn't cover anyone else in the family (despite their info being stolen with my records).

The advice I received was to use long nonsensical passwords with non-alphanumeric characters to slow down hackers and change them often. The catch is that some of these hacks are getting the lists (databases) that match user to passwords in the clear so at that point you are hosed.

FWIWFM I also save anything I want to protect and email in an encrypted file and send the password to unlock it via other means.

It's a shame but there are always folk who steal for various reasons and they've just gone electronic. The difference is some seem to take it as a challenge and the technical level is much higher these days.
 
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NorthSky

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There are things worst than that; when someone steal your wife, and your children!
Hackers are kids, teenagers who play for fun, like gamers.
They can play all they want; there are others who also play @ catching them.

Don, I've read some from over there (AVS); I'm no expert in that kind of stuff, but the site is so slow compared to most other sites.
Here @ ASR there are no adds. And it looks good too on my smartphone, and it's ten times faster...well five times.

Maybe there is just too much traffic, too many adds, ...and who knows what tomorrow would be like...

One day @ a time, there is no rush, we'll get to our destiny without rushing it.
And when the FBI guys come knocking down @ the doors of those hackers and skype and email infiltrators, it won't be for taking them to the park for a picnic with a nice lunch. But even the FBI guys are hacking into people's private lines. Should criminals be free to commit crimes? It sure looks like it.

Anyway, hacking is a sport, and there are no banned substances, and the only risk is a direct trip to the jail.
Hackers get cut every day. It's funny because hackers get hacked by other hackers. ...It's just a bad sport, a vice, a disease.

As for passwords, why not pick a song instead; record your own singing as your own signature, and put one eye in front of your camera, and one thumb on your smartphone's screen. We're in 2016 and the technology is here and it's only used in James Bond movies.

During the Egyptians era, passwords were much more safe. After thousands of years we still try to break the codes.
The more the technologies advance the less safe the passwords become; it takes only few seconds for the fastest chips to try all the possibilities of the alphabet and numerals in any world language.

Anway, it's up to those who we entrust to build attractive safe zones.

Question: What is the safest place on Earth? :)
 

cjf

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Question: What is the safest place on Earth? :)

There are only two safe places on earth:

1. A place no one other than yourself knows about
2. 6ft under in your final resting place
 

DonH56

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There are things worst than that; when someone steal your wife, and your children!
Hackers are kids, teenagers who play for fun, like gamers.
They can play all they want; there are others who also play @ catching them.

Don, I've read some from over there (AVS); I'm no expert in that kind of stuff, but the site is so slow compared to most other sites.
Here @ ASR there are no adds. And it looks good too on my smartphone, and it's ten times faster...well five times.

Two comments:

1. No, they are not kids playing, at least not always. There are serious resources behind some of the hacks, evidence of high-level conspiracies (and I am not a conspiracy advocate), and it is big business. I have lost hundreds of dollars and many hours of time dealing with ID theft and fear it is only the start since the biggest hack for me just happened last year. The thieves have gotten smarter and tend to hold on to the data for while before selling and using to avoid the normal 90 day to six-month credit blocks. A friend from church went through it with his daughter; she did not know of the problem until she got notified of taxes owed from the IRS and a foreclosure notice for a house bought in her name and abandoned in another state several years earlier. Her school records were hacked. Another friend's elderly mother had her bank account and IRA wiped out. I could cite numerous examples.

Stealing a forum password is an annoyance. Stealing my identity and virtually destroying my life is more troubling and I have seen it far too often in the past few years.

2. AVS is sometimes slow but that is true of many sites. I use AdBlock so adverts are not an issue for me; they were driving me nuts before I got that plug-in. Yes, it is a short drive.

I am a conservative Christian engineer and that puts me on the outs in most fora. I like it when I can learn something, maybe help somebody else out, or just see there is life outside work. I am not really interested in converting anyone (on religion or cables) so have been more and more just staying away to focus on things that give me more pleasure. Or just working -- it's been a tough year (pay is great but hours are insane; I am waiting for a test to finish this morning before breakfast).
 

Sal1950

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I am a conservative Christian engineer and that puts me on the outs in most fora. I like it when I can learn something, maybe help somebody else out, or just see there is life outside work. I am not really interested in converting anyone (on religion or cables) so have been more and more just staying away to focus on things that give me more pleasure.
I with ya on that Don.
Cent' Anni
Sal
 
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NorthSky

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I see.

When I started this thread I had more in mind our accounts @ websites we like to frequent because of our hobbies; watches, cars, bikes, audio electronics, wires, music, videos, dance, arts, designs, engineering, construction, science, therapy, medicine, space, travels, food, ...
Sites that don't ask you your social number, your birthday, your passport idea (picture), work permit number, country, your bank account numbers, your credit card numbers.
But the ones with a password no longer than say 10 to 20 characters, your name, male or female, and your email address.
Then you sign the acceptance that they will not share your info with NO ONE.

If we're talking about hacking that destroy lives by stealing financial info, then yes that's different.
I too can tell many close stories, of people close to me whose lives have been destroyed to the point of no return.

I think Amir said it best; not many people we can trust online (and off line as well).
...Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple. ...eBay? I don't know. ...Audiogon? I don't know. ...Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin? ...I don't know.
Some high-end dating sites and others in the business of expensive and luxurious items...cars, jewelry, houses, ... I don't know.

Hacking, theft, fraud, security breaches, companies revealing your private info, deceptive tactics, ... it's all around us, every single day.
Some places use stronger security systems, others they use mickey mouse systems.

Yes I agree with you Don; we have to be on our guards to protect who we are, what we worked for all our life real hard from hard labor.
It's no fun to retire with zero cent because we've been hacked.

We live on a beautiful blue planet with beautiful rainbow people, and also with bad hackers from star wars (the dark side) .
All type of hackers, to steal your designs, your inventions, your businesses, your money, your families, your life, ...to get access to you and take over you.
And to protect ourselves we have to take measures, precautions, with personal information that we give to no one except the most trusty ones.
A username is fine, a company's name is fine, your real name is fine, a password that only you know is fine, an email address is fine, your birthday is ...f.i.n.e. too as long that you know they won't give that info to no one; we have to be careful. A credit card number you have to give it when you purchase online...with amazon.
But here's the funny thing; even with Amazon (and Amir thought that Amazon was safe), hackers can get to you.
How many stories have you heard of people missing $1,000 to $10,000 from amazon purchases made from someone else with your credit card number? Money now taken out your bank account and you need to replace your card number, and more than twice!
I can tell you few myself. ...Stories like that. They know the country where your card number was stolen from and purchases made to. But that's it, they don't know the thief's name, they only know the victim's name. We're in the year 2016 and I find it unbelievable that stuff like this happens all the time. But then, this is nothing to compare to some other news.
I won't go there, I'll stick with the topic; hackers, passwords, usernames, email addresses, bithdays...what's making the news, what we didn't know before, what we know now, what we've learned and still learning every day. Sharing, stealing, security breaches about personal info and privacy act.

Anyway, it's more about your name (username), your password, your privacy, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Audio/Video websites, ...etc., on how everyone protect themselves and how the organizations you contribute to and participate with protect your info.

I am no expert Don, but some of the stuff I've read, like probably you too, made me pause for only one second.
And I was just wondering for how long that pause was from some of you, that's all.
But yes, if we're talking about major hacking and lack of handling your privacy; some people lost it all...everything they have worked for over their lifetime.

No, I'm no expert, I'm just reading the news like one or two more people. ...Or more people...
 
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Thomas savage

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Rainbow people and bad hackers from Star Wars.... Hilarious Bob, I think I might of wet myself:D

If they are bad hackers we need not worry?! It's the ones who are really good at it, the good Star Trek hackers! Watch out for them!!
 
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NorthSky

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I try to use words that are not offensive to anyone; it's always good to reread what we post and edit thinking about the 7.35 billion people who might read it. :)
It's a challenge too to not get emotional too much, and be simple. It's easier said than done, particularly when all of us have encountered some of those star wars darker side or star trek bad dudes from other planets. ...The hackers and the robbers and and the charlatans of all species and from all venues of life and countries.

There are two type of people; the hackers, and the ones who got hacked. I'm not putting any emoticon because it's not funny for many people, and I don't want to offend anyone. What we don't do in life counts as much as what we do. If someone commit a crime and we let it go by doing nothing, then who are we protecting?

Anyway, today is cloudy with few tears of rain.
 

Sal1950

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Let's not forget the term hacker has been badly twisted over the years.
For the younger folk, a hacker was a term applied to someone that was good with computers and maybe has the ability to write code, etc.
Someone who uses their computer skills for mis-adventure and bad deeds is a cracker, and not a racial slur for white folks. LOL
 

RayDunzl

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I use AdBlock so adverts are not an issue for me

My Adblock says it has intercepted

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