Pwned?
Posted: Sun 25 Feb 2018, 08:28
If you were not already aware, the title of this post is Internet slang for when a user's account has been compromised. The biggest hack from which photographers have suffered is likely to be the infamous one on Adobe shortly after it first set up its subscription service. That happened because Adobe failed to implement industry standard security measures and learnt that particular lesson the hard way.
This article at PetaPixel (link below) has relevance for all Internet users and does not apply just to photography related websites. It allows people to check whether their e-mail addresses have been leaked as a result of a security breach. When I checked, the e-mail address I formerly used for my Adobe account was duly returned. It also featured in the Linkedin hack from 2016. There was also mention of something called Online Spambot which was discovered in August 2017 of which I was previously unaware.
While it is illegal in some jurisdictions, websites which have been subject to security breaches do not always inform their customers or delay doing so. The Pwned website does not rely on company announcements but instead checks e-mail addresses against a database of known leaked addresses. Given the number of breaches which have occurred, it is a very bad idea to use the same password for every website where you have an account. However tempting it is to do so. That advice applies even more if a website stores details of debit or credit cards which you use to make purchases.
https://petapixel.com/2018/02/24/site-w ... mpromised/
This article at PetaPixel (link below) has relevance for all Internet users and does not apply just to photography related websites. It allows people to check whether their e-mail addresses have been leaked as a result of a security breach. When I checked, the e-mail address I formerly used for my Adobe account was duly returned. It also featured in the Linkedin hack from 2016. There was also mention of something called Online Spambot which was discovered in August 2017 of which I was previously unaware.
While it is illegal in some jurisdictions, websites which have been subject to security breaches do not always inform their customers or delay doing so. The Pwned website does not rely on company announcements but instead checks e-mail addresses against a database of known leaked addresses. Given the number of breaches which have occurred, it is a very bad idea to use the same password for every website where you have an account. However tempting it is to do so. That advice applies even more if a website stores details of debit or credit cards which you use to make purchases.
https://petapixel.com/2018/02/24/site-w ... mpromised/