A long list of corporate and political computer hacks has proven this beyond any doubt
Hillary Clinton lost the US presidential election in November 2016, and one of the main reasons for that was probably one of the most flawed creations of the human race: email.
Clinton was, of course, damaged by her use of a private server during her tenure as US Secretary of State, but her campaign was also damaged by a steady stream of emails, not all of them flattering, obtained by hacking computers, mainly those of the Democratic Convention and her campaign manager. , John Podesta.
Of course, these weren't the first leaked emails in history to cause damage. Maybe you remember a case Climategate: The 2009 leak of climate scientists' emails, which (according to critics) revealed a conspiracy to exaggerate the climate crisis. Or the hack in 2014, which revealed to the public emails and other documents of the Sony company that caused enormous personal, professional and corporate damages. As a result of the affair, films with a budget of many millions were canceled, a senior manager lost her job and relationships were shattered.
Also, the LinkedIn website was hacked in 2012 (the hackers reached 165 million customer records), the Evernote website in 2013 (50 million), the Target network website in 2013 (110 million), and the Home Depot network in 2014 (56 Millions of credit cards, 53 million email addresses), of the company that employs me, Yahoo, in 2014 (500 million) and of Anthem in 2015 (80 million).
Since 2005, there have been more than 5,100 hacks into corporate systems, and about a billion records have been stolen. And the breakouts are getting bigger and more frequent. For years, the experts have given us the same advice for keeping our digital lives secure: use complicated passwords. change them often. Do not use the same password for more than one service. Some of us do, most of us don't. But the truth is that it doesn't matter.
In almost all hacking cases, it made no difference if your password was the word "password" or the combination of characters "k&1!#_qw<>poi23@37!j" - your data was stolen in any case. You managed your passwords dutifully, yet your information was hacked. The biggest corporate hacks aren't necessarily done by bad guys guessing our passwords.
The Target hack, for example, relied on malware that captured customers' credit card details as they swiped them at checkouts. The leak of nude photos of Hollywood stars in 2014 was carried out using a scam Phishing: The hackers sent the players fake emails about "account problems", and when they clicked on the link to fix the problem, they were sent to a fake login site and through it provided the hackers (hackers) with their passwords. Staff members of Posadata and the Democratic National Convention also fell victim to phishing.
In all these cases, good, long and complicated passwords would not help. Dear readers, it's time to admit: we lost the battle. We need to accept the fact that data leaks are no longer unusual and shocking events but the new reality. The era of trusted security is over. We need to adjust our way of thinking. No one's email will ever be completely secure. Go ahead, you can start with the stages of perception of this new reality: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
In fact, email was never intended to be secure. Most messages are sent in plain text, readable and unencrypted from your sending device to the email service (Gmail or other), from there to the recipient's email service, and from there to the recipient's own device. Encryption is a rare, partial and inconvenient solution.
There are of course also ways to communicate securely. It is possible, for example, to use encrypted chat software such as Cryptocat, ChatSecure or PQ Chat. But such an approach is not the solution, because both parties must install the same application, so such software will never be universal like email.
There are also "unhackable" services with names like Tutanota and Posteo. But there is a fee to use them, so they will never be universal either. If you are not a celebrity or a politician, your best defense is anonymity. To be honest, the hackers are usually not interested in hacking into the emails of unknown people, and you can at least take solace in that.
No matter who you are, the safest advice is to listen to a joke that recently ran online: "Dance like nobody's watching, and write emails like someone's going to read them out loud in court."
8 תגובות
One more thing for Henry-
Why should you turn off your computer and router at night?
Cracking your network password, which is about 8 characters long, takes a few days for an average hacker.
There are programs that simply run all the options until they find out the password and it's only a matter of time - any child can download such software on hacker websites Estelovista or on the Dark Net, etc. Anyone who understands a little about C or Bionics can also write such a driver himself.
The hacker can find out the password to your computer to your network or the password to your router's settings, just by running the software, he just needs enough time to run the software.
Turning off the computer and the router at night knocks it out of this ability.
Lenisim: For your information, in the United States the electoral system is a regional system, so what you wrote is not relevant.
And Clinton lost the election by a considerable margin and not by a single vote. And certainly not because of the email affair.
It's not that I'm in favor of the cowboy that was chosen, I didn't like him either, but that's what the Americans chose and the media people
They are the ones who make a fool of themselves and lose their credibility
To Linda and Henry - regarding the computer:
I use a computer/computers usually as a work device, and the Internet for work, and also to study, read articles and write my opinion about them like I do now, I don't need the computer to work at night, I'm not a gamer and I don't play on the computer, and I prefer not to use it as a means of having conversations with people.
To Henry - In my opinion, "mentally ill" is someone who is addicted to computers and smartphones - all the smartozombies who walk around all day with their eyes on the device, come across pages, and have car accidents, and are unable to carry on a conversation other than through WhatsApp, commit suicide because they were banned from some social network - in my opinion, they are mentally ill.
I think there is a chance that at some point they will find out how addictive and harmful this thing is and ban it like they ban drug use.
My smartphone is usually in my bag, I use it as a phone to make calls, to listen to music, sometimes with some useful application like Wiz, etc., and not as a means of entertainment, I don't like stupid computer games like Candy Crush and scrolling through pages full of nonsense on Facebook and WhatsApp (with the exception of games Thinking like chess and Friselle that activate the brain a bit)
(In my free time I prefer to read a good book, usually on paper, I read about two books a week)
Father, that's not how you use the internet. or on a computer. This is not what will save you.
Avi:
Your ISP keeps a complete browsing history. for an unlimited time.
Your mobile provider keeps a record including a recording of your calls and messages. for an unlimited time.
Why? Because they can?
True, it's illegal, but you still have to assume that they do it.
Both of the aforementioned companies can be hacked or leak data in another way (selling to advertisers and more).
You're a little mentally ill, you know that?
turn off the computers at night.. do you also stick foil on the walls by any chance?
my father
66 million voters voted for Clinton. Trump - 63 million.
In my book 66 is greater than 63.
do you have another book
I have other patents against email and computer hacking in general that are more secure than all passwords.
First of all, I don't leave the hackers any reason for such a hack.
I do not store any important or valuable information, credit card numbers, bank account passwords, or embarrassing photos on my personal computer or email account.
In my bank account, the option to transfer funds to another account directly via the Internet is blocked.
I don't buy with the help of the internet directly with a credit card, on most sites you can call the site and send a check by mail. (doesn't trust Bitcoin or any other patent either)
Important secret files, etc. I save on a USB flash drive, or a backup disk that is not constantly connected to the computer. (both personal and at work)
I don't open spam or e-mails from people I don't know, I delete the Internet history every day including cookies, and the antivirus and spam checker of daily updates.
Every night I turn off the computers and disconnect the router from the electricity.
And it is interesting that even though the voter in the USA chose Trump by a large majority, and the media showed a lack of understanding and an appalling prediction, instead of striking at sin and looking for where they went wrong, they continue the election campaign against Trump and continue to cry about Clinton.
Especially from the media in Israel, which is trying to conduct propaganda against Trump - as if the Israeli voter has something to say about it, for example the main headline today in Yedioth Ahronoth, which the president of the country was also influenced by.
Alas for the State of Israel, the American President did not condemn the Nazi protesters strongly enough, and even worse, Bibi did not condemn the American President. pathetic.
Clinton didn't lose because of the email scandal, and wouldn't have been elected anyway, she lost because she is hated by the public more than Trump is hated.
Despite the media celebration before the elections, and the prophecies of the media networks, the results finally showed that Clinton did not lose by a single vote, but lost by a very large margin.
The voter's choice this time was not the most loved, but the least hated.