I’ve Been Hacked From China – Someone Call General Tso

Seriously, is there anyone who doesn’t use the same password on more than one account? I already balance five or six passwords in my head. One for each site I visit would be nuts!

I checked in with Gmail a little earlier. Those Google boys run all my email accounts. There was a message with scary red type. Someone had logged into my account from China! The Gmail crew was wondering whether that was OK by me?

I’m a tech savvy guy. It really was from Gmail containing some details no spammer could ever conjure.

I have accounts on lots of sites. Many use the same password. That’s probably how whoever broke in gained access. This is the kind of password you can’t just guess. It’s now changed.

Thankfully this particular password wasn’t associated with any account that has access to my money. It was however my favorite. I’ve used it since the early days of the Internet.

I looked through Gmail again after the change. Everything seems intact. This should be an effective remedy.

It’s time we found a way to replace passwords. Seriously, is there anyone who doesn’t use the same password on more than one account? I already balance five or six passwords in my head. One for each site I visit would be nuts!

7 thoughts on “I’ve Been Hacked From China – Someone Call General Tso”

  1. I think its ok to reuse passwords if you’re careful.

    For example, I too have a favorite password I’ve been using for years, BUT I explicitly do NOT use it for my gmail account. That way, like you said, if I register on a site giving them my gmail address and a password for that site, they can’t try and match them up and access my gmail account as well.

    also, here’s a relevant web-comic from Monday you might appreciate: http://xkcd.com/792/

  2. Fingerprint scanners are actually easily spoofed with a bit of gelatin and a picture of the appropiate fingerprint, unfortunately.

    As bad as passwords are, they are more secure than most things, because, if you use them right, they are only in your head. Token, smart-card, and knowledge-based authentication systems that use all three methods are better, however. Kinda like 20 questions to find out if it’s you.

    In any case, its still an unsolved problem, until computers can read your thoughts directly to make sure it’s you… (shudder)

  3. When I went to South America, FaceBook recognized the IP as foreign and made me perform a security check everytime I logged in. The check consisted of pictures that were tagged of my friends. Now sometimes my friends are tagged in generic landscapes or as objects just for fun. The test was multiple choice. It was a good way to find out if I actually knew the people Im friends with on FaceBook.

    I always check that recent activity feature. A savvy hacker would have logged into a proxy site and used a US IP…but thats another story…

Leave a Reply to KE4GNK Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *