Lots of reports today of a security problem at AOL where accounts are sending spam, or are being spoofed in spam runs or something. Details are hazy, but there seems to be quite a bit of noise surrounding this incident. AOL hasn’t provided any information as of yet as to what is going on.
Today another major retailer announced their customer files were compromised. This company had clearly implemented some security that kept hackers from getting too much information. Passwords were hashed and credit card numbers were kept on a separate server, which does signal that the company designed with security in mind. Nevertheless, personal information was compromised.
Is there anyway to keep information safe if it’s accessible from the internet? Some of my uber-security conscious friends would say no. I am beginning to believe them.
And that problem is security.
Much of what marketing does is build profiles of customers by collecting huge amounts of data on every customer. That data collection is facilitated by compliant customers that provide all sorts of personal data just because they’re politely asked by a retail clerk.
There will always be people who comply with data requests, but I expect more customers to be wary of sharing information at the register.
I’m not the only one, a recent NY Times blog post from one of their security researchers: Stop asking me for my email address. She discusses how much information companies ask for and how complacently consumers hand it over without asking about security.
Lots of people are reporting ongoing (RTR:GE) messages from AOL today. This indicates the AOL mail servers are having problems and can’t accept mail. This has nothing to do with spam, filtering or malicious email. This is simply their servers aren’t functioning as well as they should be and so AOL can’t accept all the mail thrown at them. These types of blocks resolve themselves.
Update Feb 8, 2016: AOL users are having problems logging in. Word to the Wise cannot help you. Please do not contact us for help. Contact AOL directly.