There are over 209 million registered users of e-commerce giant Amazon worldwide.
With so much confidential data, we can imagine that the company must have implemented an infallible security process, especially for highly confidential data such as credit card numbers.
Amazon isn’t the only company to have forced its users into the cloud; the Apple brand, too, harvests our confidential data via an account we create to access iTunes, Appstore and our iCloud.
These days, there are few people who don’t use the cloud, or at least have no private data stored on it.
How is our data managed and secured by these companies?
What is the consequence of storing our data on the cloud and synchronizing it between our various accounts on the web like Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook?
Wired” journalist Mat Honan tells his story
In this article, Mat Honan, a journalist with the e-magazine “Wired”, recounts his experience.
He recently suffered a hack due to certain flaws in the Amazon and Apple security systems.
Here’s a summary of his account: Within an hour, all Mat Honan’s digital media were destroyed:
- Google account deleted
- Twitter account hacked and used
- Compromised Apple ID allowed hackers to remotely delete all iPhone, iPad and MacBook data
- As we know, all our accounts are linked together, which enabled the hackers here, step by step, to get into all the journalist’s accounts.
The story doesn’t end there.
It was Apple tech support and Amazon tech support that enabled the hackers to hack into Honan’s account, and all over the phone.
How is this possible?
Explanation: The last 4 numbers of the credit card linked to the Amazon account are not considered confidential.
However, the last 4 numbers visible on Amazon are enough for Apple to verify your identity!
His comments demonstrate that, with the rise of the cloud, these systems need different security measures.
Mat Honan’s story may be seen as an indictment of Apple and Amazon’s security, but it is above all a warning to users of these applications.
After this episode, Amazon fixed the flaws in its security system, without really confirming it officially.
On the Apple side, a subsidiary reported that their internal policy had not been respected because customer data had been compromised.
However, they committed to resetting Honan’s passwords to protect his data again. To read Mat Honan’s full testimonial: click here >
