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MSNBC steals Laura's article! Blargh!

#1 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 30 June 2005 - 01:56 AM

Consider this article on MSNBC, likely titled "hackers hate you"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8408391/

Then look at Laura's article, http://www.lanceande...l/hackers.shtml Especially consider this passage:

QUOTE
Use non-obvious passwords. Make sure you have a completely random mix of letters, numbers, symbols, doodles, and heiroglyphics. Remember: if it’s possible for any human being to remember it, it’s not safe! Also, never write your password down in a file on your computer, on your actual computer, on a slip of paper or foolscap left at your desk or kept about your person.


MSNBC has written a satirical news story on the exact same grounds as Laura's was. It has to be satirical because noone would be stupid enough to suggest that people use long passwords with different combinations of numbers and punctuation, and have different passwords for everything on their computer.

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I don't know about you but I have never advocated that homosexuals, for any reason, be cut out of their mother's womb and thrown into a bin.
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#2 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 30 June 2005 - 09:00 AM

wait... are you calling Laura stupid?
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#3 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 30 June 2005 - 09:39 AM

QUOTE (J m HofMarN @ Jun 30 2005, 01:56 AM)
Consider this article on MSNBC, likely titled "hackers hate you"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8408391/

Then look at Laura's article, http://www.lanceande...l/hackers.shtml Especially consider this passage:
MSNBC has written a satirical news story on the exact same grounds as Laura's was. It has to be satirical because noone would be stupid enough to suggest that people use long passwords with different combinations of numbers and punctuation, and have different passwords for everything on their computer.


"There are ways to protect yourself, including using longer passwords and ones that combine numbers, letters and punctuation. Another effective approach is to not use your real name when you log on — make one up." - From the Article.

Sounds like good advice to me. If someone really cares about protecting their various accounts and the like, then it seems reasonable that they'd use varied passwords. Or is it that you don't think there's any danger?
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#4 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 30 June 2005 - 07:38 PM

I think the greatest danger is that if you use varied and random passwords you're going to completely forget them all and it'll be a lot of trouble for nothing. I have just one password and noone's used my computer to launch nuclear warheads... yet.

And no Barend I'm saying that anyone who seriously tells regular people IE those who are not secret agents, to make passwords like that and isn't being sarcastic is in great danger of being stupid.

The way to keep people from getting your passwords is to not give people your USN and password. Otherwise they will know your USN and password.

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I don't know about you but I have never advocated that homosexuals, for any reason, be cut out of their mother's womb and thrown into a bin.
- Deucaon toes a hard line on gay fetus rights.
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#5 User is offline   Officer B Icon

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Posted 01 July 2005 - 05:25 AM

Here here, Hoffmarn! (or is it "hear hear"?)

I work for eBay.com, specifically in account security. Every once in a while, some putz will be sent an email from security-upverify@ebay-verification-ebay121.com that says "This is eBay. For securtiy updatings, we need the following informations from you, the eBay member:

User ID:
Password:
ATM Pin number:
Credit Card number:
Credit Card expiration date:
Social Security Number:
Mother's Maiden Name:
Driver's license number:

And wouldn't you know it? Some totally fucking moronic people CAN'T WAIT TO GIVE THIS INFORMATION TO ANYONE WHO FUCKING ASKS! I'm not even kidding about the information these fake emails ask for. People are pleased as punch to enter their ATM Pin numbers into emails.

Once the dude who sent this email gets an eBay password, in he goes and lists a new cadillac for $5000, which equally totally fucking dumb people can't wait to wire transfer to Romania. "$5000 for a new caddy? And shipped for free from Romania in 2 days? And all I have to do is walk into my local Western Union office and send 5 Gs to a former soviet nation? WOW! HOW COULD ANYTHING GO WRONG!?! What's that you say? Wire Transfers are untraceable and irretrievable? It's like putting cash in an envelope and dropping it into a mailbox? Bah, why should I care. The seller told me he is trustworthy!".

eBay has this whole segment of customer support dedicated to helping members get back into their accounts once we've removed these bogus listings, changed all their passwords around and fixed all of the problems Romanians like to create. So customer support gives the member back their account and says "remember, this happened because someone found your password because you entered it into a ridiculously bogus email that you thought came from eBay. Please don't give your password to Romanians in the future. Also, please don't make your password "password"."

What does this member do once they have their account back? They say "Wow, problem solved!" and promptly change their password back to "password". Well, that was before we stopped allowing people to re-use passwords. Now they promptly change it to "password1".

Surprise surprise, the next day, "HOLY SHIT THERE'S ANOTHER $5000 CADILLAC ON MY ACCOUNT! HOW THE FLYING MOTHER OF SHIT DID THAT HAPPEN?!? I THOUGH EBAY SOLVED THE PROBLEM!!!" And the cycle starts anew. And one more waste of space on this planet decides to walk in to a Western Union office and throw his cash and a coke-inhaling Romanian, living fat off the stupidity of stupid idiots.

The moral of this story? People (especially eBay and AOL users) don't know what the hell a password is for, what it does, or why anyone would ever need one. So to any of you complete douchebags that I have described in the above paragraphs are reading this, your password keeps other people out of your account, moron. It's kinda like the key to your house. If someone has your key, they can rob your fucking house.

And to the people who decided to send $5000 to Romania for a brand new Caddillac, to you I say "BAHAHAH! You are incredibly stupid and you deserve to get ripped off a second time, just for being stupid enough to get ripped off the first time".

Aaaannyhoo, I believe I've violated most of the terms of my employment contract in this posting, so I should stop now. I hope this adds a little to the "why should I use a password" debate.
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#6 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 01 July 2005 - 10:58 AM

I can see two very obvious solutions to the problem of "forgetting your passwords."

1. Don't forget! If you only have a few passwords, or maybe have a few you through around, say one for all the silly things you dont care if people hack, and a like two for semi important things, then it shouldn't be THAT hard.

2. Write down your passwords somewhere. Like on a slip of paper in your house, maybe stowed away in a drawer somewhere in case you forget them. That way, your passwords are only vulnerable to people who come into your house, and ransack your computer table looking for passwords. And that doesn't seem particularly likely.

I guess the real question is: Is there a reasonable threat that someone might steal our password from somewhere and then use it to make our lives less fun?

Because if there is, I don't think its silly to say people should use varied passwords. If someone can find a way to steal my password from Joe's Personal Homepage Message Board, and then use it to steal money from my paypal account, or something, then I'd say that's a problem.

In any case, I don't think someone's stupid for saying people should do this, because its really not that hard at all, and presumably there is SOME threat!
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#7 User is offline   Chyld Icon

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Posted 01 July 2005 - 11:15 AM

I think Officer Bs got the nail on the head here, its not so much the passwords that are the problem, as the idiots using them. This is a species that thinks Crazy Frog is a good idea, remember.

Personally, I keep one easy-to-remember password (easy for me, that is, not sure anyone else would get it without a good deal of thinking) for small things like forums, student union stuff, etc, and a few complicated individual passwords for stuff like Paypal.
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#8 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 01 July 2005 - 11:57 AM

The article completely overlooks the problem. Hackers don't have to hack to find out yourpassword, just make up a legitimatesque email account and ASK for it. Hey, regardless of how many doodles and heiroglyphs are in your password if you're an idiot you're still going to give it away to a hacker, that is if you can remember it at all!

The point is people cant get your passwords unless you give them your passwords, so why should you even bother making unguessable passwords when it's just false safety and the next day you're going to show off your unguessable password to some hacker with a paypal address. EVERY online service clearly states "we will not ask for your password and username"

Quote

I don't know about you but I have never advocated that homosexuals, for any reason, be cut out of their mother's womb and thrown into a bin.
- Deucaon toes a hard line on gay fetus rights.
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#9 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 01 July 2005 - 12:30 PM

QUOTE (J m HofMarN @ Jul 1 2005, 11:57 AM)
The article completely overlooks the problem. Hackers don't have to hack to find out yourpassword, just make up a legitimatesque email account and ASK for it. Hey, regardless of how many doodles and heiroglyphs are in your password if you're an idiot you're still going to give it away to a hacker, that is if you can remember it at all!

The point is people cant get your passwords unless you give them your passwords, so why should you even bother making unguessable passwords when it's just false safety and the next day you're going to show off your unguessable password to some hacker with a paypal address. EVERY online service clearly states "we will not ask for your password and username"


See that's the thing I question. Is that really true? Is it really true that hackers cannot get my password unless I reply to one of their emails and just give it to them? Because its silly to just assume that its true! Are all passwords on the internet completelt safe? Because if thats not true, and if it happens enough, then the article isn't stupid.
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#10 User is offline   Officer B Icon

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Posted 01 July 2005 - 02:57 PM

As a professional, I can confirm that unless your password is easily guessed, the only way for a hacker to get your password is if you give it to them.

The idea of the "hacker" is a bit of a myth. There are people out there who exploit the security of websites and company databases, retrieve information and attempt to sell it to other companies or ransom it back to the original company. These guys are few, and sometimes are just doing it to make a point about the sad state of a particular companies Site Security department.

No one is sitting there fighting through 128 bit encryption to get in to your Anarchy Online account. It just doesn't happen. Why would anyone spend the time "hacking" in to an online account, when all you really need to do is find a moron with an online account, as ask them for their password?

So never fear, Rory. When you get that email that asks for your password, don't put it in, and you'll be fine.
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#11 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 02 July 2005 - 02:36 AM

Maybe the article is right after all. If stupid people cant remember their passwords there's no chance of them giving their passwords away.

Now that we all know that hackers don't spend thirteen hours and six bottles of Jolt cola trying to find out how they can get into our forum accounts, let's discuss the real problem here: the danger of hackers flying into our computers on little bike things, like in Tron. No number of squiggles or heiroglyphs can stop them, especially if they use that weird version of tennis where it kills people. Beware the hackers!

Quote

I don't know about you but I have never advocated that homosexuals, for any reason, be cut out of their mother's womb and thrown into a bin.
- Deucaon toes a hard line on gay fetus rights.
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#12 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 02 July 2005 - 07:10 PM

QUOTE (J m HofMarN @ Jul 2 2005, 02:36 AM)
Maybe the article is right after all. If stupid people cant remember their passwords there's no chance of them giving their passwords away.

Now that we all know that hackers don't spend thirteen hours and six bottles of Jolt cola trying to find out how they can get into our forum accounts, let's discuss the real problem here: the danger of hackers flying into our computers on little bike things, like in Tron. No number of squiggles or heiroglyphs can stop them, especially if they use that weird version of tennis where it kills people. Beware the hackers!


Tron was a good movie.
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#13 User is offline   J m HofMarN Icon

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Posted 02 July 2005 - 09:51 PM

They're supposed to either remake or rerealease it soon.

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I don't know about you but I have never advocated that homosexuals, for any reason, be cut out of their mother's womb and thrown into a bin.
- Deucaon toes a hard line on gay fetus rights.
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