Some people say the internet is good for only two things. One of them I won’t mention. You can probably guess what it is. If I do mention it, then today’s Tech Insider will probably go straight to your spam folder.
To give you a hint it starts in ‘P’ and ends in ‘orn’.
The other thing people say the internet is only good for is cats. That’s right, cats. If one day you go online and can’t find a picture of a funny cat, then head to the nuclear bunker. If there aren’t cats online, then something’s gone very wrong and the world will probably end.
I must say I’m a contributor to the internet cat phenomenon. My cat Lewis gets a fairly solid run on my Instagram and Facebook feeds. It’s hard not to put pictures of him online. I mean, when he looks like he does in the picture below most days, I just feel compelled to share with the world.
And I’m not the only one. Clearly there are a lot of cat people out there. If it weren’t for us cat-folk, there’d only be one thing the internet is good for.
Free Reports:
So you can thank us later that at least cats bring a bit of decency to the digital world.
Online cat stuff has also helped make some big online business. If it weren’t for cats, Chezburger wouldn’t exist. And the Grumpy Cat franchise…well that’s now a movie.
But there’s a dark side to cats. The fluffy little rascals have no idea they’ve created this dark aspect of the web. But it actually puts a lot of us at risk.
I recently was chatting to a friend of mine. He told me his work password was ‘password123’. This conversation came up because of an article I’d written a little while back about Heartbleed.
My friend was asking me what happened after Heartbleed. I explained to him, not much. And that as long as you keep pretty vigilant about your online security, you’d be reasonably safe. Then he told me his password.
I didn’t slap him upside the head, but I should have.
The general public, on average, have very poor password protection. At the beginning of this year a password management company, SplashData, highlighted the issue.
They listed the top three passwords of the year (2013). In first place was, ‘123456’. Second went to ‘password’. And third was ‘12345678’.
What’s really interesting is the year prior those were also the top three. However, ‘password’ was the most popular and ‘123456’ was second.
So in the space of one year the most ridiculous passwords known to man didn’t change. No matter how many times people like me tell other people to use complex passwords, not much seems to change. I hope this changes when SplashData release the 2014 most popular passwords…but I doubt it will.
This year alone there has been huge discoveries of flaws in the internet. Heartbleed, Shellshock and POODLE are three internet flaws found just this year. These aren’t just ‘bugs’ either. They’re full blown deficiencies in the structure of the internet.
You see, security was never a high priority when the internet started. So over the last 25 years as it’s become a backbone of our society, security has become a growing concern. Of course, much of this can be managed with personal vigilance online.
And as I’ve said before, passwords are a critical function of protecting yourself and your sensitive digital information. Now, I hope you don’t have the three most popular passwords on any of your devices.
But if you’re a cat owner, there’s possibly another major flaw in your online security. Your cat. Seriously.
You’re probably wondering what I’m going on about. But let me highlight a story from just last week.
Jeremy Hammond was one of the FBI’s most wanted cybercriminals. He’s been a hacker for over a decade. Some of his most notorious hacks included Sony Pictures, PBS and security think-tank Stratfor. The big deal with the Stratfor hack was that some of their clients were the US Defence Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
Not the kind of people you actively want to annoy.
Hammond had been able to evade the feds for some time. He did a little stretch of 20 months in prison in 2008, but had been free since getting out. Then in mid 2012 the FBI caught up with him properly.
After going a plea bargain, Hammond eventually got 10 years in prison. That’s the maximum sentence allowed under his plea. Another hacker, ‘Sabu’ helped the feds to get Hammond and eight other hackers on their list.
But catching a hacker and proving their guilt are two different things. Being able to crack the encryption on a hacker’s computer is, I’m guessing, going to be pretty difficult. Without the right encryption keys or passwords, it’d be nearly impossible. After all, these guys are the best in the world at cyber security hacking. Surely their own system would be hard to crack.
Well, apparently not. Hammond recently explained that he still has no idea how the feds cracked his encryption program. But they got enough evidence to send him away for 10 years.
Hammond does have one theory though. He says his password was really ‘weak’. His password was ‘Chewy123’. Chewy was his cat.
Sound familiar? Well it will if you have a cat. I’ll also be the first to put up my hand and say in the past I have used the name of my cat as a password.
Before Lewis there was ‘Chuggy’. And my old computer password was indeed ‘Chuggy01’. Seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? But sometimes we act carelessly and don’t think. Since then I’ve figure out that any kind of password that links to me or my cat or anything I put online is a risk. But I’m sure there are plenty of cat owners out there who might not have 123456 as a password, but probably have ‘Fluffy123’ instead.
If you still haven’t changed and updated your passwords to something more complex, then just look at Hammond. One of the world’s most elusive cybercriminals, doing 10 years because of his carelessness and his cat.
If he’s that careless, then I know many reading this might be also. Be smart online, have complex passwords, and don’t let your cat compromise your online security.
Regards,
Sam Volkering + Editor, Tech Insider
The post How a Cat can Destroy your Online Security appeared first on Stock Market News, Finance and Investments | Money Morning Australia.