Tag: online safety

Gmail Password Leak Update

In case any of you missed this, now might be a good time to update your WordPress and Gmail passwords (and Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram, and Amazon…I should make a list of all my online accounts, methinks.)

WordPress.com News

This week, a group of hackers released a list of about 5 million Gmail addresses and passwords. This list was not generated as a result of an exploit of WordPress.com, but since a number of emails on the list matched email addresses associated with WordPress.com accounts, we took steps to protect our users.

We downloaded the list, compared it to our user database, and proactively reset over 100,000 accounts for which the password given in the list matched the WordPress.com password. We also sent email notification of the password reset containing instructions for regaining access to the account. Users who received the email were instructed to follow these steps:

  1. Go to WordPress.com.
  2. Click the “Login” button on the homepage.
  3. Click on the link “Lost your password?”
  4. Enter your WordPress.com username.
  5. Click the “Get New Password” button.

In general, it’s very important that passwords be unique for each account. Using the same…

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On Facebook and panicky status updates – A Parody

If you’re on Facebook, you’ll probably know exactly what I’m talking about.  Please share.

Facebook has made a change to Graph Search! COPY AND PASTE THIS TO YOUR WALL so everyone knows how it works and your News Feed doesn’t again get flooded by idiotic messages on how Facebook is making your personal information searchable to anyone in the world!

The new feature allows you to search for key words in comments and status updates. However, YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO FIND INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN SHARED WITH YOU, i.e. public posts or posts by your friends. If you don’t want your posts to turn up in Graph Search, DON’T POST THEM PUBLICLY, but change your post settings to “Friends Only” or “Private”. Of course, not posting things online in the first place also helps to keep them private and unsearchable.

To find out more about Graph Search (like what it actually is and how it works), click here:
https://www.facebook.com/help/558823080813217
http://mashable.com/2013/09/30/facebook-graph-search-conversations/

To find out how to manage your privacy settings, click on the gear-icon top-right of your screen, go to ‘Help’ and read the articles under ‘Privacy’.

To find out more about search privacy specifically, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/help/468080906543413/

Share this with all your friends and stop the circulation of idiotic panicky messages on our Facebook walls!!!!!!!

You think I’m being silly?  I prefer to call it a pre-emptive strike.  Hey, it’s worth a try.

Some more getting right of facts

No, this isn’t another Dan Brown-inspired rant.  (Do tune in tomorrow for my review of Secrets of Inferno which explores the facts behind Mr Brown’s latest bestseller, though.)  Today I want to talk about something else.

I’m generally a nice guy (at least I think so), but I do have a nasty side and at times I can be a real bastard when I think someone is deserving.  What does one need to do in order to receive this dubious honour?  My dark side gets awakened when people indiscriminately forward e-mails. Continue reading “Some more getting right of facts” →