Week 6 Securing Information

Last week I tried to transfer funds from my PayPal account into my bank account and I forgot my password and had go through a three step process including a phone call to prove my identity and location. At the time I thought the whole process was unnecessary hoops to jump through but after reading “How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Lead to My Epic Hacking” I couldn’t have been more thankful. I thought what if PayPal had the same system as Apple and Amazon, not only would I be out 50 but the hacker could have access to my bank account without me ever knowing.  The thing that I found most unnerving about this article was the fact that the hackers were only after the twitter handle. I can only imagine the amount of damage they could have done if they were after important pieces of information the a social security number or bank account numbers.

On one hand cloud systems like the one apple uses makes things easier because lets face it we all have the h remember 5 different users names and 5 different password that need symbols, upper case letters and lower case letters. However the security flaws like the ones shown by Apple and Amazon have in a way made hacking easy enough for anyone with a computer to do. When hacking first became a widespread issue it took a lot of skill and very advanced programs, but after reading how this hacker did it, its something that a kid in middle school could do on a rainy day, and again the damage that is done could have huge financial ramifications.

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