Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I've been Gawked!

Lessons on security in light of Gawker Media breach, resulting in hundreds of thousands of compromised email accounts.

Never deal with Gawker again. I found I could not even delete my account on Gizmodo. That's pathetic- they let it get hacked and you can't even sever ties. Oh, and I couldn't log in to Gizmodo- I think my account was inactive, implying these clowns were keeping my data for no reason (and insecurely) or someone changed my password. Frankly, I hope someone is using my account to harass Gawker. Just remember, it's not me! Hahaha.

For lame things like commenting on websites (such as Gawker runs), create an email account you use for absolutely nothing but commenting on websites.

Don't use only one password for everything, or even variations on a theme. It's hard, but think about it. "One ring to rule them all..."

Delete things (everything, really) from your email frequently that may provide pointers to parties you do business with. These email leave a trail of what other websites you have accounts with. And if these accounts use your compromised email address and password, you are in trouble.

Don't save your credit card info on any website. Really, who can you trust? Just type it in each time. Even then it is still not completely safe, but less likely to be sent out through bittorrent.

Use passwords of at least 16 characters. Yes, you can remember it!




Friday, December 3, 2010

Netflix Movies for only $30, brought to you by Verizon

Yes, you read it right! You really can watch a Netflix movie in HD for only $30. That is, of course, if you have Verizon 4G service and a 5GB data plan. You see, after using up your 5GB watching 2 movies in HD on Netflix, you start paying $10 per GB. A 2 hour movie uses about 3.3GB, so that is a whopping $30 in overage fees.

Of course, Verizon will send you an email or text message to warn you when you hit your data cap a few days into the month. Please be sure to check frequently while watching a movie. Nice!