The Internet Has a Long Memory

This is a very interesting account from Scientific American of how a person broke into someone's bank account using only (for the most part) what he found freely available online.  Some of the resources he used were:

• an online resume the victim had posted
• blog postings the victim had made about celebrating her birthday
  
• public DMV records

He lists 7 steps it took him to do it.  I think this is a good reminder that while new web technologies let us connect in all kinds of new ways there is a significant risk to putting so much of our private/personal life into the public arena.  Even that LifeLock guy who had his Social Securoty number pastered on the side of a truck got his identity stolen.

What if someone doesn't know how to properly set up their security settings in Facebook?  What if those old Twitters get looked at by a potential employer?  What if someone finds your resume and old birthday blog postings?

The Internet has created a new social landscape that none of us completely understand.  Some of us go leaping through it like a gazelle.  Some of us go trepidatiously sliding one foot in front of the other wondering where the ice will crack (admittedly me).  However you tread, or however you lead your students through the landscape, remember to look both ways before crossing the street. </soapbox>

Posted by gdkraus ( Aug 27 2008, 01:44:42 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [3]