Hasta La Gadget!

By now, you may have heard the story of the identity ‘hack’ perpetrated against Wired journalist Mat Honan. Using easily obtained data, an anonymous duo bluffed its way into changing his Amazon account, then his Apple iCloud account, then his Google account and ultimately the real target, Twitter. Both Amazon and Apple were docked for how easy it was to modify an account over the phone — and, in close succession, have both put at least a momentary lockdown on the changes that led to Honan losing much of his digital presence and some irreplaceable photos. His own publication has reportedly confirmed a policy change at Amazon that prevents over-the-phone account changes. Apple hasn’t been as direct about what’s going on, but Wired believes there’s been a 24-hour hold on phone-based Apple ID password resets while the company marshals its resources and decides how much extra strictness is required.

Neither company has said much about the issue. Amazon has been silent, while Apple claims that some of its existing procedures weren’t followed properly, regardless of any rules it might need to mend. However the companies address the problem, this is one of those moments where the lesson learned is more important than the outcome. Folks: if your accounts and your personal data matter to you, use truly secure passwords and back up your content. While Honan hints that he may have put at least some of the pieces back together, not everyone gets that second chance.

Filed under: Internet

Amazon, Apple stop taking key account changes over the phone after identity breach originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple data centers are popping up like spring flowers: following its North Carolina, Oregon and California plans, it’s now pitching a fourth data center in Sparks, Nevada, just outside of Reno. The enigmatically named Project Jonathan hub is expected to light up before the end of the year if it’s given the green light. Not surprisingly, Apple is promising jobs for the area, although the company is choosing the location for a reason: it’s hoping for tax breaks on top of the advantages that previously led it to funnel some of its money through Nevada. We’ll have a better idea as to the fate of the data center when Apple argues for the project on June 27th, but it’s reasonable to think Apple is eager to make the Sparks location a reality. The more capacity and reliability it can build into iCloud and iTunes, the better.

[Image credit: Amy Meredith, Flickr]

Apple pitches data center near Reno, gambles iCloud will pay off among other puns originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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