Secure Email Project

For this project, I downloaded Firefox and Thunderbird to practice digitally signing and encrypting my University of Florida email. As shown in this screen shot, I successfully completed both portions of the project:

In the end, I learned a lot by trial and error. Although I became frustrated at times, the end result was a feeling of confidence in my understanding of what occurs when an email is digitally signed or encrypted.

One example of a company that should have enacted higher information security is Gawker Media, which compromised millions of usernames and passwords (Robertson). Gawker Media is based out of New York City and serves as a successful online media company. Back in December 2010, however, hackers breached Gawker Media's security and posted the sensitive information online for free access.

This breach naturally created a problem, but not for the user's information with Gawker. As the article points out, the main concern was with how often users repeat usernames and passwords. Repeating usernames and passwords makes it easy to remember, but poses a serious threat when a security breach occurs in any of those companies. Because now all your password protected information is at risk. With the free access to Gawker's usernames and passwords, hackers could easily apply the information available to other sites to gain access to bank accounts and other online information.

Four sites highly affected by Gawkers breach were Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and Google. Millions of these site's total users had to reset their passwords to protect their information. The ultimate lesson is to use multiple passwords across different sites and for companies to use many levels of security for their user's information. Even if extra security measures become a hassle for the user, at least he or she will rest assured that the information is safe.

Article:

Robertson, Jordan. "Gawker Hack Underscores Flaws With Passwords." ABC News 19 Dec 2010: n. pag. Web. 9 Apr 2011. .