Category Archives: backup

Gizmodo Writer’s iCloud Account Hacked, Devices And Accounts Wiped Out

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Harrowing tale from Mat Honan, writer for the popular tech news site Gizmodo:

I realized something was wrong at about 5 p.m. on Friday. I was playing with my daughter when my iPhone suddenly powered down. I was expecting a call, so I went to plug it back in.

It then rebooted to the setup screen. This was irritating, but I wasn’t concerned. I assumed it was a software glitch. And, my phone automatically backs up every night. I just assumed it would be a pain in the ass, and nothing more. I entered my iCloud login to restore, and it wasn’t accepted. Again, I was irritated, but not alarmed.

I went to connect the iPhone to my computer and restore from that backup — which I had just happened to do the other day. When I opened my laptop, an iCal message popped up telling me that my Gmail account information was wrong. Then the screen went gray, and asked for a four-digit PIN.

I didn’t have a four-digit PIN.

By now, I knew something was very, very wrong.

The hacker, who goes by the name Phobia, pulled off a very clever trick by first taking advantage of a gaping security hole at Amazon, and then socially engineering an unsuspecting AppleCare rep and getting him or her to change Honan’s iCloud account password. Once they had control of his iCloud email, it was open season on his entire online world, including his Google/Gmail account.

Putting aside the sheer lunacy of a tech writer not having any sort of backup of his laptop, it appears there are only a couple things Mat could have done to prevent this. Namely, build a solid firewall between the email account he uses for communication, and an account used for everything else (web services, online shopping, etc). It’s a good lesson for the rest of us, but hindsight is 20/20. The real problem is Amazon and Apple either ignoring normal security procedures, or having a massively flawed system in place from the get-go.

Here are some tips for the average user to avoid this kind of disaster:

  • Get 1Password.
  • Don’t reuse the same password in multiple places. Using 1Password, create random, unique passwords for all of your accounts.
  • Protect your email account like your life depends on it (it does).
  • Better yet, set up a separate Gmail account with 2-step verification and use it for your online acccounts. Keep it secret and don’t ever send email with it. When it asks for an alternate recovery email, use your spouse’s, or set up a separate throwaway account just for that.
  • Set up a PIN or password lock on any devices where you can receive email (iPhone, iPad, laptop, etc).
  • Keep automatic, up-to-date backups of your stuff. For PCs, use CrashPlan. For Macs, use Time Machine. For iPhones and iPads, use iCloud. You’re crazy not to.
  • Don’t over-share on social media, and lock your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles down so only approved friends can view them. No need to make it easier to guess your passwords or the answers to your security questions.

 

Windows 8′s Built-In Backup System

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This entire post by Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky could just be shortened to: “We’ve copied Time Machine for Windows 8. I don’t know why we’re just now getting around to this, being the world’s most popular operating system and all, but here it is.”

One big caveat though (emphasis mine):

File History is a backup application that continuously protects your personal files stored in Libraries, Desktop, Favorites, and Contacts folders. It periodically (by default every hour) scans the file system for changes and copies changed files to another location. Every time any of your personal files has changed, its copy will be stored on a dedicated, external storage device selected by you. Over time, File History builds a complete history of changes made to any personal file.

Compare to Time Machine:

Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents.

Time Machine backs up everything on your Mac, including applications, email accounts, settings, and all your files. Windows 8′s File History will only grab items in your Libraries, Desktop, Favorites, and Contacts folders. There are quite a few important items stored outside these folders in Windows (Outlook files, application data stored in the user folder, web browser data, etc), so unless there’s a workaround to back those up as well, we’ll have to continue using 3rd-party backup software for many of our Windows users.

Which is a little sad, becase there’s no reason Windows users should have to pay 3rd parties for basic, reliable file backup.