Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Mystery Solved?

I'm trying to move on with my life after being hacked. For those of you keeping score at home, this ass munch got into my e-mail, Amazon and eBay accounts. PayPal was untouched thanks to the fact that I wasn't a moron and had a different password over there (which I changed anyway). As far as customer service efforts - once I found Yahoo's phone number (which took some doing) they were extremely helpful, as was eBay. So major props there. Amazon? Um yeah - not so much. I still do not have access to my Amazon account (for selling or buying) and I was informed via generic e-mail that they would call me. Yeah, that's not going to work. So on Monday I plan on calling them and demanding satisfaction.

The lesson in all this is to not be an idiot like me. I'm a librarian. I should have known better. But I used the same password for almost everything. Dumb, dumb, really fucking dumb. Now I have about 25 different passwords, which are all nonsensical and completely different. And while I always used a combo of numbers and letters I'm now using numbers, letters, random capitalization and special characters. Trying to keep all these new passwords straight will very likely cause my feeble little brain to explode, but nobody can ever say that Super Librarian doesn't learn her lesson.

What really bothers me about all of this is I don't know "why" I was targeted. I mean, I'm smart enough to not fall for phishing scams, so how? A computer virus? Sheer dumb luck? But while talking to my Lil' Sis today she suggested another possibility. Wireless. Yep, The Boyfriend has a lap top with a wireless card and I used it a couple of weeks ago. Now, that's some serious lag time if that's how the hacker found me - but it's the only viable "reason" I've come up with so far. So now I have to nag The Boyfriend to verify that his laptop has the necessary security features, and we need to make sure we're dumping our history and cookie files. What a pain in the ass.

Of course it could not be that at all and merely my bad karma. So who knows? Maybe it really was just that random?

In other news, I had a very enjoyable day at the spa where I had the works done. I'm talking everything. I have cute hands and feet now. I had a facial that was so fantastic I almost asked the woman to marry me. And the massage? Seriously, I have a theory that if you're a woman, and you're feeling blue, all you need is a massage and a trip to the gay bar. You'll be feeling fabulous in no time.

6 comments:

David said...

It was most likely random.

The most common form of this stuff is from a phish of one account. You follow a link somewhere to a page that looks just like Yahoo, but guess what? It's not. You sign in, and now your password is known. You might have done that somewhere unwittingly.

I have a "base" password and then a combo after it I use on most sites. Helps them all be different, yet I can remember them all.

Katiebabs a.k.a KB said...

My weekend was filled with books and more books!! Went to a used book sale at my high school and scored some nice ones. And then my fellow jersey peep enabled my habit even more by giving me a 40% off coupon to Borders where I bought even more books.
On going cycle that will never end!!

Still so sorry for the bastard rat ass that hacked into your accounts :(
Cut off his balls.

Stephanie Feagan said...

Serious bummer on the hack attack, but good on you - and eBay and Yahoo - for jumping on it, straightaway.

As for the spa - Word.
But I've yet to go to a gay bar. I'll have to give it a shot. Owing to my Very Bad Haircut, I now resemble a lead rocker from an 80s hair band, a male one, so maybe I'd best wait.

Hope you have a good, hack-free week!

azteclady said...

I hope amazon gives you some answers, Wendy.

katie(babs) I'm green with envy--mine was full of rl obligations :sigh:

Have a good Monday, everyone.

CindyS said...

Geez, I'm wondering if I've done enough. I have the same password for things that aren't important - bulletin board stuff but I think my bank passwords and such are all different.

I have wireless but I put up a password so only I can get on it. Bob brought home his laptop from work and the IT guy was trying to help him get on the internet over my wireless. The good news is that even with the password, it wouldn't recognize Bob's computer and then tech guy said my security was too high to allow him on. Sah-weet!!

Still, you experience makes me want to go through and redo all my passwords. Problem is I don't have a great memory so I only change a password at a time until it becomes lodged in my brain. I'm thinking it'll be a long process ;)

Glad you made time for a spa day! I would love to go and get a ped and facial.

CindyS

Wendy said...

David: You know, I didn't think about following some random link. I'm really good about ignoring phishing scams that arrive in my e-mail but maybe I got nailed while surfing around the web.

Katie: I can't remember the last time I was at a UBS. I think my TBR Anxiety might be getting the best of me.....

Steph: Wait until you have good hair. Last time my BFF and I went to the gay bar we had guys telling us all night how fabulous our hair was. Best ego boost ever.

CindyS: My advice to to make sure you have unique passwords for all of your "important" stuff. Like David suggested above, you can have a base password then change it a little bit for each site. Maybe a different number or capitalize a different letter......