Category Archives: Computer Security

American Express has a definition of “electronically” I haven’t heard before

I recently received a letter from American Express confirming that I’d enrolled in online bill payment.  I received the letter on paper, in an envelope, with a stamp on it, in the mailbox on my porch. The final sentence of the letter, all the way at the bottom, below the signature, reads as follows: You… Read More: American Express has a definition of “electronically” I haven’t heard… »

WordPress inadvertent disclosure bug

As I previously wrote, I recently had to change my password on over 300 Web sites because my default “medium-security password” was compromised.  The compromise was caused by a bug in the WordPress blogging platform which can result in inadvertent disclosure of information when content is pasted into the WYSIWYG text editor built into WordPress.… Read More: WordPress inadvertent disclosure bug »

Discover is replacing credit cards because of the Heartland data breach

I haven’t seen this posted anywhere else… I received in the mail today replacement Discover Cards for my wife and me.  Our cards were not due to expire for quite a while.  They were attached to a special-purpose mailing sleeve, not the generic sleeve they usually use when mailing out new cards.  Some highlights of… Read More: Discover is replacing credit cards because of the Heartland data… »

Password security hall of shame

As I wrote earlier today, I just changed my password on over 300 Web sites. In the process, I encountered a large number of sites which simply don’t know how to do password security properly. Some of these sites are operated by major corporations which are entrusted by their users with confidential and sensitive personal… Read More: Password security hall of shame »

Why I just spent three days changing my passwords on over 300 Web sites

“Hi, my name is jik, and I’m a password reuser.” “Hi, jik!” If there isn’t a “Password Reusers Anonymous”, there probably should be. By “password reuse,” I mean using the same password over and over on multiple Web sites.  It’s a really bad idea, and I should know that better than most, since I’ve worked… Read More: Why I just spent three days changing my passwords on… »