Community Chat

[tansy]

Thank you, dooB. I will read your links. I hope your back feels better soon. I messed up my knee somehow and have been hobbling all day:/

[dooBdoo]

On 8/6/2014 tansy said: Thank you, dooB. I will read your links. I hope your back feels better soon. I messed up my knee somehow and have been hobbling all day:/

You're welcome, tansy, and thanks for the good wishes. Sending them back to you -- hope that knee feels better soon.

We can hobble around together.

[tansy]

On 8/6/2014 dooBdoo said:

On 8/6/2014 tansy said: Thank you, dooB. I will read your links. I hope your back feels better soon. I messed up my knee somehow and have been hobbling all day:/

You're welcome, tansy, and thanks for the good wishes. Sending them back to you -- hope that knee feels better soon.

We can hobble around together.

Icing it as we chat, dooB. If I'm going to hobble around, you'd be great company

[voyager1980]

The "down fall of the internet"?Don't think so, people won't stop using their computers.

[gardenman]

As long as data has value people will be looking for ways to get it and profit from it. Back in the old days when people had paper receipts for credit card transactions there were people actively searching trash containers for those receipts and the data on them. A fully up to date, well maintained computer system is pretty safe these days, but a whole lot of people/places use older systems that have vulnerabilities.

My mother just got out of a rehab facility after a mild stroke where every computer is still using Windows XP or Windows 98. Patient records, prescription records, billing records are all on those computers. Are they as safe as can be? Absolutely not. Those operating systems have known vulnerabilities and are obsolete, but the cost to change the OS and software on every computer there is enormous, so the facility gambles that no one will gain access. Her opthamologist uses Windows 95 on the computers he uses to display videos showing the services he provides. He keeps his billing computers behind the public area so I don't know what OS he uses on them, but I'm guessing it's not the latest and greatest.

The future lies in the cloud. Computers like Google's Chromebooks and Chromeboxes will ultimately benefit greatly from these data breaches. More and more data will be centralized and strictly monitored in central locations where hacking is easier to detect and prevent. This will make those sites the Fort Knox's of data making them a bigger target, but also easier to protect. Now data is spread out all over the place and you have to hope that those with your data are doing their best to protect it, but in many/most cases they aren't. In some cases they aren't aware how vulnerable they are. In other cases they just can't afford to make the necessary upgrades. Amazon and their associated retailers are pioneers in safer computing and with the Amazon cloud, your data is probably safer than elsewhere. Data security has always been a big issue and will remain a big issue for decades to come. The cloud will ultimately provide better security than anything we have now, but those clouds will be even bigger, richer targets.

[~moxie~]

I shop on the internet. I hate the malls. I do on occasion shop but most of the time I am sorry I did. A couple times my account has been breeched but the bank always took care of it immediately.

[jewelfool]

I can't worry about this any longer. It's bound to happen. Even if I stopped using the internet, my information is already out there. It doesn't matter if you "save" your credit card information an account on a website or not...the trail is there. IMO, there is no password in the world that can keep these hackers out.

[dooBdoo]

On 8/6/2014 tansy said:

On 8/6/2014 dooBdoo said:

On 8/6/2014 tansy said: Thank you, dooB. I will read your links. I hope your back feels better soon. I messed up my knee somehow and have been hobbling all day:/

You're welcome, tansy, and thanks for the good wishes. Sending them back to you -- hope that knee feels better soon.

We can hobble around together.

Icing it as we chat, dooB. If I'm going to hobble around, you'd be great company

Aw, thanks, tansy. What a nice thing to say. I think you'd be great company, too!

I hope you're feeling better today. I'm still hobbling around.

[dooBdoo]

On 8/7/2014 ~moxie~ said: I shop on the internet. I hate the malls. I do on occasion shop but most of the time I am sorry I did. A couple times my account has been breeched but the bank always took care of it immediately.

That's great, moxie. However, if true identity theft occurs, the financial institution will be of minimal help and the "fix" (which won't ever truly be permanent) will take years of work and real heartache.

[dooBdoo]

On 8/7/2014 jewelfool said:

I can't worry about this any longer. It's bound to happen. Even if I stopped using the internet, my information is already out there. It doesn't matter if you "save" your credit card information an account on a website or not...the trail is there. IMO, there is no password in the world that can keep these hackers out.

In fact, it does tighten our security if we don't keep financial info stored on the websites.

This issue of online security is just as serious as walking down a dark alley offering up our wallet, money, personal credentials to any criminal who might want to grab it and run with it. It's not about worry, it's about being as informed and as careful as we can be, that's all.