Jul
13
2012

Yahoo! Voices Hacked

Seriously people, change your passwords already

Yahoo! Voices Hacked

I know you've been listening to me right? After LinkedIN was hacked you heeded my wisdom and changed your password right?

Well, guess what, it's another day, another password breach. This time over 400,000 accounts from the freelance writing consortium Yahoo! Voices have been leaked, and are floating around the internet in clear text. Yes, I said cleartext.

If you are a Yahoo! Voices user and want to find out if the email account linked to your Yahoo! Voices account was compromised click HERE

While we're talking about the leaked passwords, take a look at this list that Securi.net reports contains the most commonly used passwords found in the leaked data. Is yours on the list? 

[number of accounts] [password]
1666 123456
780 password
437 welcome
333 ninja
250 abc123
222 123456789
208 12345678
205 sunshine
202 princess
172 qwerty
164 writer
162 monkey
161 freedom
160 michael
160 111111
140 iloveyou
139 password1
134 shadow
133 baseball
132 tigger
131 1a1a1a1b
126 success
121 blackhatworld
111 jordan
110 whatever
109 michelle
107 dragon
106 superman
106 purple
106 1234567
103 ashley
101 associated
101 123123
100 ginger
100 babygirl
99 maggie
98 computer

If your account was compromised, you'll want to heed the advice I gave you during the LinkedIN leak and change the password on any account that was created using this same email and password combination - just in case. In fact, if you're one of those people that use the same password for everything, I'd suggest changing that strategy today.

If you're looking for tips on secure passwords (and no, '123456' and 'password' do not count) then it's time to revisit my 'Time to Change Your Password' post

But seriously, go change your passwords already.

Jul
10
2012

Archive Your Life with miLifemap

New service creates secure archive for your memories

Archive Your Life with miLifemap

I’ve had it with Facebook and want something simpler.

There, I said it. Now the social media Gods can smite me with unfollows or whatever they want to.

My stance on Facebook came from a patio lunch with girlfriends all of different stages in life. We started talking about a lecture I delivered not too long ago about the impact of social media on the family and our discussion quickly turned into how Facebook used to be for ‘catching up’. It used to be a place to dump photos and comment on them, but it has now become a juggernaut for what my friend called “boob stalking” referring to how brands will use tools that you’re used to using to grab whatever info about you they can.

THAT’s what I don’t want.

I don’t want Joes Plumbing Company to know my home phone number, simply because I liked them on Facebook. I really don’t want the neighborhood liposuction company to be able to find out that I just finished a tub of Ben and Jerry’s because my friend liked them.

Yes, I know security settings help reduce the likelihood of Joe showing up at my door with a display case full of ¾ inch poly flanges, but that’s not the point. I want to own MY data. I want to own MY identity.

When I looked at what I wanted to use Facebook for I realized I really only use it to share photos with my family and chronicle the Geekling’s life. And, given recent events (I had a stalker, but that story is for another time) I know that’s all I want to do. I don’t want people to know who I’m interacting with, and how I’m doing so, I simply want a digital version of that box of photos in the attic that I can share with my family. I want to chronicle my son’s life in a way that I can pass onto him if something tragic happens like a house fire, or my passing.

An aptly timed email introduced me to miLifemap.com (currently in beta) and its CEO Denim Smith.

miLifemap is a new service that provides storage of your memories. Think of it like a personal archive of photos, videos, diaries, and your social media presence in an interactive and private place.

miLifemap Main Feed and timeline

It not only acts as a backup of your files, but allows you to organize your content in ways that we’re used to: creating milestones (a wedding, a family vacation, the birth of a child), yearbooks and tags from all of your photos and videos.

The pictures you have stored on other social media networks (Facebook, twitter, flickr, foursquare) are easily imported into miLifemap, which allows you to tag them and chronicle them with any other photos or videos you’d like to upload on your own. Everything in one place.

So why miLifemap and not Facebook? Denim Smith, and the staff of miLifemap have the same philosophy I do – they believe you should be the owner of your content.  They want you to have a secure space to backup and share with the people YOU want to.  They are parents like we are, and understand the stresses with putting your child ‘out there’ before they decide who they are and how they want to be portrayed to the world.  Let’s face it, we don’t know what Facebook will be 5 years from now and who will own that picture of your Great Uncle doing the limbo at your wedding.

The UI in miLifemap is slick and easy. Milestones and yearbooks are easy to create, navigate and share. I actually had a blast looking through all my old photos and videos while populating my milestones. I set up an account for myself, and another one (which I manage from my own account) for my son. This means when he’s old enough, he can take control of his miLifemap account and pick up where I left off.

Oh! One last thing that’s unique to miLifemap—The eBeneficiary.  The eBeneficiary would be a family member or trusted friend that you designate and request their approval to receive your content after you have passed away. I set mine up as my son, so if anything happens he’ll have access to my miLifemap and all the memories I thought were important in my life.

I’m not being paid to say this—I’m seriously digging this service, and think you will too, not just for the functionality but security (and we all know how big I am on backups) as well.

The details: miLifemap is currently in beta with 2GB data available for free. Additional storage will be available for a fee in the future. miLifemap also has apps for iPad and iPhone available.