Don't Let Your Clients' Information Fall Into the Hands of a Hacker

After Mat Honan, one of Wired's tech writers, had all his important accounts hacked, he came in contact with his hackers. He learned how many of the systems that customers thought were secure and safe to store information, were not as secure as some may think. Honan got an inside view on how his hackers, a group of teenagers who work under the name UGNazi (short for "underground Nazi"), were able to breach the security systems of notable companies
like Amazon, Apple, AT&T, PayPal, AOL, Netflix, Network Solutions, and Microsoft. As a freelancer, you likely store sensitive private information on a computer or network system. An easy way to protect yourself is to protect your clients with Lifelock for business or a similar service that secures your customer information.

Ramp Up Your Security

After one of UG Nazi's hackers, Cosmo, shared his secrets and how easy it was to hack into so-called secured systems like AOL and Paypal. He and his fellow hackers had to know the name and addresses of the account holders in order to change their passwords over the phone. Since the hacker revealed this information, AOL and Paypal have heightened their security and protocol for sharing and changing information over the phone. It is important to remain in tune with changes in technology on the hackers end and stay one step ahead of their game.

Get Creative

This next tip comes from a hacker, so you might think of this as hearing it from the horse's mouth. In last month's the Atlantic Wire, "white hat hacker" Alex Horan gave a few tips on how readers could improve their abilities to select passwords that are effective and difficult to crack. Here are a few of the tips we thought were the most effective that you can use when giving requirements to users for their passwords:

You don't have to pick a password; you can use a passphrase that is 10 to 14 characters long. A passphrase can is more personal and something that is authentic to you. A password, like your dog's name, or your anniversary or firstborn's birthplace and weight, might be too short and possible to crack. The longer and more diverse the passphrase, the longer it will take a hacker to decode.
For password recovery, ask clients questions that only they could answer. Possibly allow them to write their own questions so the answer can be as unique to them as well.

Encryptamite

Horan says that it's important to use proper methods for encrypting a users data to prevent a client from having their information hacked. For example Yahoo voicemail was hacked because it was not secured with encryption, but LinkedIn utilizes added salting that adds extra characters to a password hash, making it more difficult for a hacker to decipher and crack.

This last example of hacker havoc is particularly important in light of the recent attack that a supposed member of the hacker group Anonymous made against GoDaddy's server. A hacker who calls himself AnonymousOwn3R claims to be the hacker who worked alone, but as an Anonymous hacker group supporter to take down GoDaddy's server system and all of the sites that they host. GoDaddy was only down for a couple of hours, but it was enough to alert the webhosting company about how secure their system was.

As tech savvy consumers and business owners, it is as important to sign on with a company that will prevent you and your business from losing money and having your information hacked as it is to save money upfront. So, even if a webhost is offering you the best deal for a fancy free template and three subdomain names, think twice before you pass on sensitive information to them online.

Don't Let Your Clients' Information Fall Into the Hands of a Hacker After Mat Honan, one of Wired's tech writers, had all his important accounts hacked, he came in contact with his hackers. He learned how many of the systems that customers thought were secure and safe to store information, were not as secure as some may think. Honan got an inside view on how his hackers, a group of teenagers who work under the name UGNazi (short for "underground Nazi"), were able to breach the security systems of notable companies like Amazon, Apple, AT&T, PayPal, AOL, Netflix, Network Solutions, and Microsoft. As a freelancer, you likely store sensitive private information on a computer or network system. An easy way to protect yourself is to protect your clients with Lifelock for business or a similar service that secures your customer information. Ramp Up Your Security After one of UG Nazi's hackers Cosmo, shared his secrets and how easy it was to hack into so-called secured systems like AOL and Paypal. He and his fellow hackers had to know the name and addresses of the account holders in order to change their passwords over the phone. Since the hacker revealed this information, AOL and Paypal have heightened their security and protocol for sharing and changing information over the phone. It is important to remain in tune with changes in technology on the hackers end and stay one step ahead of their game.

Get Creative This next tip comes from a hacker, so you might think of this as hearing it from the horse's mouth. In last month's the Atlantic Wire, "white hat hacker" Alex Horan gave a few tips on how readers could improve their abilities to select passwords that are effective and difficult to crack. Here are a few of the tips we thought were the most effective that you can use when giving requirements to users for their passwords: • You don't have to pick a password; you can use a passphrase that is 10 to 14 characters long. A passphrase can is more personal and something that is authentic to you. A password, like your dog's name, or your anniversary or firstborn's birthplace and weight, might be too short and possible to crack. The longer and more diverse the passphrase, the longer it will take a hacker to decode. • For password recovery, ask clients questions that only they could answer. Possibly allow them to write their own questions so the answer can be as unique to them as well. Encryptamite Horan says that it's important to use proper methods for encrypting a users data to prevent a client from having their information hacked. For example Yahoo voicemail was hacked because it was not secured with encryption, but LinkedIn utilizes added salting that adds extra characters to a password hash, making it more difficult for a hacker to decipher and crack. This last example of hacker havoc is particularly important in light of the recent attack that a supposed member of the hacker group Anonymous made against GoDaddy's server.

A hacker who calls himself AnonymousOwn3R claims to be the hacker who worked alone, but as an Anonymous hacker group supporter to take down GoDaddy's server system and all of the sites that they host. GoDaddy was only down for a couple of hours, but it was enough to alert the webhosting company about how secure their system was. As tech savvy consumers and business owners, it is as important to sign on with a company that will prevent you and your business from losing money and having your information hacked as it is to save money upfront. So, even if a webhost is offering you the best deal for a fancy free template and three subdomain names, think twice before you pass on sensitive information to them online.

This is a Guest Post By
Joshua Williams A self-described word-nerd, Josh double majored in journalism and business and can't get enough of online word games. He freelances from the comfort of his lakeside home in Minnesota.