[:en] Over the past weekend Mark Zuckerberg, tech giant, Facebook mogul and you-would-think tech genius, had his Twitter and Pinterest accounts hacked.
Of course, he’s an easy, convenient target – who wouldn’t want to boast about hacking Mark Zuckerberg’s accounts? Ironically, not much skill was needed to achieve this target. The Zuck made two classic mistakes.
His first was to use an incredibly simple and easy password consisting of only two unique characters, namely “dadada”. No caps, no special characters, no problem to hack. His second was using the same password for his Twitter and Pinterest accounts. Subsequently, hackers could access both accounts with minimum effort.
What we’re trying to say is, don’t feel bad if you use simple passwords because it’s easy to remember. Even Mark Zuckerberg does it. However, we would advise that, for your own safety, you start using unique, unusual passwords and not 123456 for all your accounts.
If it’s a challenge to remember different passwords for different accounts or if passwords with odd characters, capital letters and punctuation confuse you, consider using password management tools like KeePass and LastPass.
The good news is that Google is working on an alternative method for users to access their accounts on Android phones. It will be more secure and doesn’t use passwords.
Google recently announced Project Abacus, which will recognise a user by, what they call a Trust API – the way they type, their location, facial recognition, voice and other biometric markers. Google plans to complete work on this project by the end of this year.
[SOURCES: http://qz.com, http://www.nytimes.com]
[:af]Mark Zuckerberg, tegnologiese reus, Facebook grootbaas en (mens sou dink?) rekenaargenie, se Twitter en Pinterest-rekeninge is die naweek gekaap.
Hy is wel ʼn gesogte teiken vir enige kuberkraker – wie sal nie wil sê hy kon toegang kry tot Mark Zuckerberg se rekeninge nie? Ongelukkig het dit nie veel vaardigheid vereis nie.
Die Zuck het voor-die-hand-liggende glipse gemaak. Eerstens het hy ʼn eenvoudige, maklike wagwoord gebruik. Een wat bestaan uit slegs twee unieke karakters: dadada. Geen hoofletters, geen spesiale karakters, geen probleem vir ʼn kraker.
Sy tweede fout was om dieselfde wagwoord te gebruik vir sy Twitter en Pinterest-rekeninge. Gevolglik kon kuberkrakers sonder moeite toegang tot beide rekeninge kry.
Wat ons eintlik probeer sê is, moenie te sleg voel as jy eenvoudige wagwoorde gebruik omdat dit maklik is om te onthou nie. Selfs Mark Zuckerberg doen dit. Ons wil egter aanbeveel dat jy, vir jou eie veiligheid, begin om unieke, ongewone wagwoorde te gebruik en nie 123456 vir al jou rekeninge nie.
Indien dit moeilik is om verskillende wagwoorde vir verskillende rekeninge te onthou of wagwoorde te ingewikkeld raak met snaakse karakters, hoofletters en leestekens, oorweeg sagteware wat jou daarmee kan help, byvoorbeeld KeePass en LastPass.
Daar is wel goeie nuus vir wagwoord-haters. Google werk aan ʼn alternatiewe metode vir gebruikers om toegang tot Android-fone te kry. Hierdie metode sal veiliger wees en gebruik nie ʼn wagwoord nie.
Projek Abacus gebruik Trust API, sagteware wat herken hoe ʼn gebruiker tik, sy stem klink, sy gesig lyk, waar hy homself bevind en ander biometriese merkers. Werk aan die projek behoort teen die einde van die jaar voltooi te wees.
[BRONNE: http://qz.com, http://www.nytimes.com]
