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10.3.08

Franck Martin and myself interviewed on email security


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white elephantFijilive has run a story on email security based on interviews with Franck Martin of PICISOC and myself. Here is an excerpt.

While email is an extremely useful technology, it is not very secure, warns Chris Hammond-Thrasher, the author of the Digital Fiji Blog, dfiji.blogspot.com . And he suggested that the best advice to follow is "to always assume that all of your emails are being read by others".
[Emails are not so secure: experts, Fijilive, March 9, 2008]
That's right, email is not secure - it never has been. You do not need to dream up elaborate hacking plots to explain Hunter's emails getting out into the wild.
Why would they [hackers] take weeks to plan a sophisticated attack if they can just trick you into giving them your password or key, or if they can take advantage of a well known software flaw on a server that has not been updated for a couple of months? ... He cites the dangers of the common practice of "writing your password on a sticky note on your PC, leaving your PC unattended while you are logged into email and other services, and allowing others to watch over your shoulder while you type in your password".
The mystery of how Hunter's email was stolen is the biggest non-story in Fiji ICT news.

Photo by: juiceboxgasoline

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Email can be made fairly secure but it takes work to setup. There is a website dedicated to the topic at www.novo-ordo.com. They explain what needs to be done and have links to a variety of information sources and service providers. They also offer their own brand of secure email.

thrashor said...

thanks, rick. interesting looking link. have ordo-novo's solutions been independently reviewed?