Hacking has become an almost everyday occurrence, and it has become so common-place that people actually roll their eyes when you try to explain with gusto that another gaming developer’s website has been hacked.
The latest spate of attacks started with the hacking of PlayStation’s online network – which left the company red in the face, lighter in the pocket and about two months without any online activity.
After the initial attack, a number of other companies were also targeted, including BioWare, Codemasters and Nintendo. But game developers weren’t the only targets, as film studios also fell victim to online attacks and network intrusion.
Many of these attacks could have probably been prevented, and had the victims given it a bit more thought, most wouldn’t be trying to explain to the public why their credit card details are floating on the internet.
But for the most part, and excluding the credit card details, the hacking of a major company doesn’t affect the Average Joe in the slightest. It’s merely amusing to learn that sensitive company information is being sold, while confidential emails are circulating through inboxes.
Equally disturbing, it’s not just online networks we have to worry about. The phone hacking scandal in the UK ultimately led to the closing of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World. But how does this affect the man in the street? Well, besides the world’s oldest gossip newspaper shutting down, sensitive information was gathered on certain people by hacking their phone calls. It’s been suggested that as many as 4,000 high-profile people were targeted.
It’s not the easiest thing to do in the world, but it’s still a worrying thought to know that someone else could be eavesdropping on your every word without your knowledge. How safe are we really? With the new RICA act in effect, what is stopping the government from listening in on celebrities’ calls?
Ok, it probably won’t go that far, since a court order needs to be obtained in order to retrieve phones calls, but it’s a valid point. And with everything interconnected these days, it’s easier than ever to have one password for a specific site that grants you access to all kinds of personal information, like a Google account for example.
In Africa we are fairly lucky in the sense that hacking isn’t as pervasive. It might be due to a lack of skill, but that doesn’t mean that we can just sit back and see how the world falls to this evil.
Although we are geographically far away from this phenomenon, we are all still citizens of the global internet, and it affected us just as much when the PlayStation Network was breached. Sony urged all its users to change their passwords and usernames as soon as the service came back online.
That is probably one of the best ways to stay out of a compromising situation. It’s absolutely vital that a password is changed at least every six months (if not sooner), and it goes without saying that your password shouldn’t be given to people who will misuse it.
The password’s subject and spelling should also be of such a nature that it will make it very difficult to correctly guess it. The use of as many capitals and numbers is highly recommended.
The hacker group Anonymous released a list of passwords from a recent hacking, and it was shocking to see how many of the 25,000 passwords started with dates, birthdays or something silly like ‘fluffybear15’.
Granted, getting into someone’s email is a lot easier than hacking a phone line, but if one thing should be taken away from this piece, it is that passwords should be considered the holy grail of the internet. Change it often, make it as difficult to remember as possible and never give it out to unauthorised people.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
