When hackers attacked Wired senior editor Mat Honan’s data, they targeted iCloud, Google and Amazon. But while these cloud-based services served as the gateway into his technological life, Honan believes that the cloud also became his digital “salvation.”
Honan argues that although he has been a happy Apple customer for 20 years, the lack of cloud security disgusts him. Apple IDs are too easy to reset, he argues.
After days of struggling to recover Twitter, Gmail, and various other tech accounts, Honan finally stopped the remote wipe of his MacBook data with the help of Apple support.
Honan suggests local backup for data, writing that when “you control your data locally, and have it stored redundantly, no one can take it from you. Not permanently, at least.”
He also champions the cloud. “Because I use Rdio, not iTunes, I had all my music right away. Because I use Evernote to take reporting notes, everything that I was currently working on still existed. Dropbox and 1Password re-opened every door for me in a way that would have been impossible if I were just storing passwords locally via my browser,” he explains.
But Honan cautions that even when consumers take steps to protect themselves, they are still vulnerable if companies do not increase security. He writes that Amazon, Google and Apple are not alone in their lack of security.
“We don’t own our account security,” he concludes. ” And as more information about us lives online in ever more locations, we have to make sure that those we entrust it with have taken the necessary steps to keep us safe. That’s not happening now. And until it does, what happened to me could happen to you.”
No Comments Yet
You can be the first to comment!
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.