quote: A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers' passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users, including Hollywood celebrities, SecurityFocus has learned
Or maybe I'm just reading the wrong news sites each day -- but this was the first I had heard of this problem.
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Wherever there's a computer system there'll always be a hacker... You just have to hope that the hacker isn't meaning any harm. And yeah, adam is right; the same thing happens with banks or other companies that have similar problems. They sometimes cover it up instead of asking for help / advice in order not to destroy their image.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I don't take privacy as a given. The power that we have to use these technologies presupposed that there is the potential for abuse as well. I don't say it's wrong for people to expect privacy- just idealistic and naive.
Posts: 666 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Well, my bank (where I also work) recently issued me a "new" debit card, with a letter saying "some customers' card may have been compromised".
Now since I work here, I knew I had heard of no breaches in our system, so I talked to the head of that department and asked her what the deal was. She said "a vendor" had been compromised, and just to be safe they were issuing 3700 customers new VISA cards. I thought at that time it was linked to the national news of the breach at Lowe's database. (I use my card there a lot).
I hope I don't have to go through that again. But worse would be in anyone steals my identity.
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More frightening than the fact that the issued a new card is the fact that they know you use T-Mobile or shop at Lowe's. This is why I use fake names for everything. Like the grocery store cards. You know, those ones that are like coupons. I even gave duplicates (they gave us 4 I think) to one of my husbands friends (he had his identity stolen and really paranoid), and my parents have one and we all use them.
Cash is also a good thing. I don't have a debit card or a credit card (though my husband does.) They freak me out too much.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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My bank told me the same thing, Farmgirl, and I know for sure there's NO way we bank at the same place as mine is a company-affiliated credit union.
Last autumn (?) there was a hacker that managed to tap into Visa itself. Caused massive transactional problems, lots of double and triple charging going on. Didn't sound like he'd actually gotten numbers or charged products for himself on those cards, just somehow had the authorized charges repeat themselves. So Visa issued new numbers to all customers that were affected by that and as a precaution offered it to me when I renewed my card. I assume they were offering it to all customers.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Personally, I'm starting to believe all of the world looks to Hatrack to decide what to discuss. I've had the sneaking suspision for quite a while because we discuss something here and a day or two later, it's on the evening news.
But what convinced me was Sundays episode of Boston Legal. I swear, Candice Bergan's speech in court was ripped almost word for word from one of my posts. Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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My point being, of course, that if you want something to get more attention, talk about it here at Hatrack and it will soon be front page news somewhere.
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You just have to hope that the hacker isn't meaning any harm. And yeah, adam is right; the same thing happens with banks or other companies that have similar problems. They sometimes cover it up instead of asking for help / advice in order not to destroy their image.
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