What happens after a data breach?

[AussieNeil]

The high profile loss of millions of on-line account records by companies that should know better shows no signs of abating, with Adobe recently in the news for losing 150,000,000 user accounts! Yes that's right - nearly 3 times the population of the UK had their Adobe userID and password stolen in early October. It's hard to believe no one at Adobe noticed attempts to download a 10GByte file from their accounts server!

Ever wondered what happens to your ill gotten account record?

techrepublic.com/blog/it-se...

Please read this if you haven't yet done so.

Online Security starts with You!

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

As I pointed out in the above, just choosing a unique and strong password for each site where you must register, will do much to protect your stolen data from being used to further inconvenience you.

The stolen accounts also provide an opportunity for a password analysis, if the stolen file is released on line.

How poor were some of the passwords used to access the Adobe site? Prepare to be shocked:

zdnet.com/just-how-bad-are-...

Is your password considered strong? Microsoft is one of many sites providing you with a way to check on line. If you are paranoid enough (probably a wise state to be in when it comes to on line security), just try something close to your eventual password.

Microsoft Password Checker:

microsoft.com/en-gb/securit...

LastPass is a good password management tool according to those in the IT industry and there are other good choices:

techrepublic.com/blog/tech-...

You can find out if your account data was leaked in the Adobe hack here:

zdnet.com/find-out-if-your-...

The stolen file contained both active and inactive accounts for "numerous Adobe products" (examples include Acrobat, Photoshop, ColdFusion, CreativeCloud).

Neil

I was walking around a popular bird haunt when I heard a loud squawk above me. Imagine my surprise when I saw this ibis climbing and flapping around in a palm tree. Must be getting close to Christmas, but in Australia we obviously have an "ibis in a palm tree" rather than "a partridge in a pair tree"...