Browsers, websites, anti-virus programs. They all want us to accept, they know what’s best for us. Sure, there are some out here, that can benefit from some help to keep them safe online, but the majority of users today, know the dangers of clicking on links sent by email, or on social media.
First, they came out with “safe web surfing, big name virus companies scanned the web looking for websites with malicious items. That is great, in a way. Except scanners aren’t that smart. If something was detected on your site, you were immediately placed on a list as dangerous. Bad thing is, if it;s a false positive detection, it can take months to be removed from that list. If you’re a business that had a malfunctioning credit card link, you lost a lot of business while you fought to get off the list.
Certification
Next they decided SSL (a form of encrypting your data) was the way to go, turns out, it was full of holes itself. Then came HTTPS which shows you are encrypted and verified by a certificate. This was forced on everyone. Very soon, they possibly stop you from connecting to a site, just because it has images from a site that runs only HTTP (because the site can’t afford a certificate).
Then came the breaches of databases, actually these have happened for years, the last few years they are reported more, due to liability to customers. So we now come to browsers, and some sites that you have to sign in to, telling us whether our password is strong enough. They are about to go one step further, and not allow you to sign in if your password has been found in a breach, forcing you to make a new password. When you start to set a password, the site checks a HUGE database of passwords from all past breaches, to see if it is found in a breach somewhere.
Now, while I am all for being safe. Some of this seems to be knee-jerk responses. Overkill, comes to mind. You can’t protect everyone, by trying to protect the minority of users, you place more burden on others. Not to mention, if that massive database of passwords, was ever breached. Well, you can picture that. There is a saying in IT security. Nothing is truly secure, from a hacker with the proper skill set.
Want to check your password to see if it has been used?
Click Have I Been Pwned to find out.
Comments welcome,
I have never been complacent about online security, Ron. My Yahoo email was hacked three times, and I changed to GMail because of that. Then my anti-virus programme was corrupted, so I changed to a different one.
I face facts. I put it all out there, online. I buy from Amazon, and they sell my information. I blog on WordPress, and they sell my information. I use Gmail, and they sell my information. I have given out my personal details so many times, I have lost count.
I don’t need their ‘protection’, because that ‘protection’ is just a different way of harvesting my online data.
Great post, Ron. I cannot find a reblog button above, or I would surely reblog this. So I have shared on Twitter.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete. I had my PayPal account hacked many years ago.
My apologies to all, I should have made it clearer that the link goes to a reputable site, operated by a highly respected security professional, Troy Hunt. This is his about me page https://haveibeenpwned.com/About I have used the site many times, finding some of my passwords, had been compromised in breaches.
-Ron
I ditto what Pete said – and my yahoo settlement papers are sitting here waiting to be filled out. So many dangers?!?!? Why can’t they fix ’em? They created them?
I had my Yahoo account breached years ago, not once, but twice, with a good password on it. I had read about the class action suit, but figured there would be so many filing, that the amount of money in compensation, wouldn’t be worth my effort.
Thanks for the comment,
My apologies to all, I should have made it clearer that the link goes to a reputable site, operated by a highly respected security professional, Troy Hunt. This is his about me page https://haveibeenpwned.com/About I have used the site many times, finding some of my passwords, had been compromised in breaches.
-Ron
I am not clicking on that link for obvious reasons 😀
Great thinking! You are your first line of defense on the Internet, better than any program. I discovered the site while taking some security courses online, they had a link to his project. The link is a bit scary looking back. Pawned otherwise spelled pwned, means to have been comprimised, or beaten in geek terms.
Thanks for the reply, and you get a gold star!
My apologies to all, I should have made it clearer that the link goes to a reputable site, operated by a highly respected security professional, Troy Hunt. This is his about me page https://haveibeenpwned.com/About I have used the site many times, finding some of my passwords, had been compromised in breaches.
-Ron
Ha, it’s not even a link, of course I checked! 😀 But hey, would you mind accepting $25,000,000 in your account, keep it safe for me? It belonged to my late housekeeper’s uncle’s nanny. Also there’s a bunch of bitcoin if you want. Just click HERE. ?
I made another adjustment to the text, and must have killed the link Ellie. I’ll take that $25,000,000! I know someone that is poor. They are the cousin, of my wife’s aunt’s, former husbands, brother’s son’s, sister’s roommate. 🙂 Thanks for the smile Ellie.
My apologies to all, I should have made it clearer that the link goes to a reputable site, operated by a highly respected security professional, Troy Hunt. This is his about me page https://haveibeenpwned.com/About I have used the site many times, finding some of my passwords, had been compromised in breaches.
-Ron
The worst thing to come from the internet is the security concerns. Sadly, I don’t think we will or should ever feel truly safe using it. Will I stop using it? No. Will
I be cautious? Yes.
My daughter told me years ago never put anything on line that you don’t want the whole world to know. It has really helped to avoid over spilling on my blog. I just had to change my email password again, by the way.
She is right, Elizabeth. It’s stored somewhere, no matter what they tell you, and for a long time as well. Once it is on the web, it lives forever it seems.
Thanks for the comment,
Longer than we do for sure.