Maybe is too late... We're exposed
Whole story smacks of Mr Trump asking someone in the mideast for a favor.
It's no secret that Mr Trump and Mr Bezo dont see eye to eye.
2
Why should we care? Jeff Bezos' karma is not ours. He has to live with his abuse of the human race. And that's not grandiose-that's real.
1
Guy wasn’t smart enough to have a second account for non-business related activities? Shame on him
2
I thought that it was the brother of his mistress who did the old "check phone while she's in the bathroom" hack. Her password was her birthday or something.
Dual factor authentication has its own vulnerability.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/technology/sim-swap-jack-dorsey-hack.html
There have been some large bitcoin wallets emptied this way.
1
And POTUS refused to let go of his personal cellphone. Any guesses as to what our foreign opponents have hacked into?
3
I’ve been hacked multiple times but always when companies that have my data fail to secure it properly. It’s very doable they just don’t want to pay for it. Such companies need huge fines....real ones. Not just offering free credit monitoring for a year. As for the grid, spare me. Same thing. Just do it. Isolate critical systems. It can be done. Super encryption. Cell phones? Don’t open thing from people you don’t know or trust. A Wahhabi murderous dictator? Gee, what can go wrong. And wealthy people that don’t have professionals to sweep their devices? Dumb.
What about all our info on AWS?
And if he had not been cheating on his wife, he would never have been hacked.
If after 9/11 the US had attacked the Saudis (the real culprits) instead of Iraq (Cheney/Bush target for WMD), the world would have been served a lot better. That would have knocked off the Saudi Wahabbi proliferation in the world, reduced Al Queda without ISIS (possibly) and kept the Saudis where they need to be - under constant surveillance. Instead the US boosted Saudi ego and murderous activities of terrorists created by their fundamentalist ideas and they have ended up as a US 'friend' instead of 'Enemy # 1' for anti-US activities on an ongoing basis.
3
Digital security will always be an issue, the article feels so unnecessary.
Never put anything in writing...pretty simple!
That's how the mob worked for decades and it served them pretty well :)
1
I can't conceal my delight that this happens to the rich and powerful who want to control, steal, and mess with us in the same way. I wish someone would embezzle every penny from this exploiting tax evader. It happens to all of us at some point, but it's a great thing when it happens to one of them. It's too bad they can't be forced to live homeless for a few weeks, though he would probably be a sleazy panhandler and wind up getting lots of money anyway. One always wishes that these little misfortunes will teach the rich some lessons, but they tend to move on and not to really learn from them. The whole problem in this country is that there is no empathy, people can't put themselves in other people's shoes. It makes me think of the hole in Adlai Stevenson's shoe, that made him seem like a regular guy. I can't imagine a hole in Jeff Bezos' sole - just a hole in his soul, if he even has one.
"I think we are in rats' alley, where the dead men lost their bones."
1
The Israelis sold them the technology and thought thy were in safe hands. I bet Netanyahu owns a new cell phone today.
"Jeff Bezos’s Phone Hack Should Terrify Everyone"
Yes, indeed. But not for the fact that anyone's phone can be hacked, no matter how powerful one can be. It should terrify everyone that there is a savage regime that knows no boundary and stops at nothing to utterly destroy its opponents.
Don't let the constant propaganda about the "progressive" Crown Prince that wants to bring his country to 21st century fool you. A leopard can't and won't change his spots. And don't let his propaganda machine pull the wool over your eyes. Let's remind everyone of some facts:
"MBS's charm offensive over the past year has been the subject of much uncritical reporting from the alleged guardians of the public trust, including the New York Times, who treated 'Prince Charming' as a liberalizing reformer, even as he led slaughter in Yemen, mass arrests of journalists and political opposition figures in Saudi Arabia, and other crimes against humanity and human rights abuses."
Keep in mind that we are talking about the people that were complicit in the 9/11 attacks and murdered journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 in cold blood, dismembering him with a bone saw. Can anyone doubt that: "Those who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars."
And remember that it was Donald Trump who simply shrugged it off, telling us that his "billions of dollars of weapon sales" are more important that any principle that the United States of America stands for.
31
@Eddie B.
For ordinary people, who cannot afford more than one iPhone, this is a problem.
For Jeff Bezos, who can afford more iPhones than anyone else in the world, the problem is somewhat easier.
He can simply flood any challenger with a task that is beyond belief.
I suspect he has already done what it takes.
@Eddie B. Not only do I recommend this comment, I wish I could re-publish it widely. Let's not forget that the man Bezos was palling around with is accused of sanctioning the grizzly murder of one of Bezos own employees, Khashoggi.
2
bezos’ error was so elemental that it just boggles the mind ..
As soon as I have $100,000,000,000 I'll start to worry about this.
1
Most frightening to me is that MBS is Trump's personal Dance Master and Best Buddy - he even has Trump supplying troops to defend the Kingdom from their arch-enemies -- the Shia. But MBS got dirt on one of Trump's Domestic Enemies as well.
Of course Trump's list of buddies would make a Mafia Don cringe.
As far as the smart phone aspect - I don't want, need or have one. Yeah, I've got a flip phone without a single "App" " I only use it to make and receive phone calls (how 20th Century of me... so, "Beam me up Scotty!")
I cannot believe that Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Amazon Web Services does not have access to a team of dedicated IT Security Professionals. One of the easiest things that he can do is to have two separate physical phones. Or three. He should have one phone/network for strictly trusted friends and family and used only for that. Another for social media if it is required. And a third for business and new business associates. Maybe a fourth phone for his fun times with his 2nd or 3rd girlfriends/mistresses.
That is what I would do if I had his amount of time and money.
Interesting that Bezos and Clinton get hacked but Trump not. We can't get his taxes, school grades, or birth certificate,all public record. Forget documents of his crimes all hidden in property that we citizen own.
1
If the average American can't put his hands on $400 in an emergency... what's really at risk?
1
he wasn't hacked - the photos were given to Laura S. brother who sold them for $200,000. I am sure this is common knowledge by now!
Jeff Bezos’ Phone Hack Should Terrify Everyone.
So just how much terror should we feel from our smartphones?
Put it on a scale on a scale of 1 to 10 like pain.
For years I've been saying if you don't want people to see something don't put it on a computer or smartphone. If you would be embarrassed to have your grandma see it then don't do it. (At least my grandma) AND don't use Facebook etc
We've all been duped into thinking we can't live without all this convenience by the people getting wealthy off all our data. They (overwhelming majority) don't care about your data or privacy and won't change until forced by the government. Thinking otherwise is folly.
6
Interesting. But Donald Trump is the one that could alter our destiny. His unclever passwords and unsophisticated security measures on any of his phones is a sure fire hack that we all know has happened. It was a real chuckle when he said "Russia, if you're listening..." Of course they were listening. It makes one wonder. Russia had far more to gain on the Ukraine job than Donald Trump. What a stretch to go for a Possible opponent in a race with over 20 candidates.
I must say I agree with the WSJ article that there is more to this than meets the eye. There are too many coincidences, and the way Bezos hires consultants to investigate such things suggests a wealthy, paranoid, and maybe even delusional person.
1
I'm not sure what frightens me more: Jeff Bezos being hacked or Jeff Bezos himself.
This guy almost single-handedly killed (real) bookstores--and, more importantly, bookstore culture, along with brick-and-mortar retail culture.
He was too busy milking the corpse of what was our culture for the last drop to protect his phone? Awww...
117
@Allen-Yep, Amazon pays "O" taxes, exploits workers, pollutes to deliver packages, and expects U.S. cities to compete for its headquarters and warehouses--providing local tax relief incentives and other sweetheart deals.
9
@Allen
In the beginning that company lost money for a very long time.
Wall Street kept it going.
Blame them!
3
@Allen
What killed bookstores was the lack of demand for them. Jeff Bezos simply filled a demand for cheap goods delivered conveniently.
That's why Putin probably has recordings of many of Trump and Rudy Ukraine related texts and emails.
70
@Izzy
Of course, what else is "expected"? Stop personalizing Putin though. He is merely a president of Russian federation at the moment there. It is the system apparatus, global screws that make and enable him to go on in his role continuity if he wishes to practice it so.
2
To: Lindsey Graham
From: Vlad
Subject: ‘You won’t believe what this cute cat can do - so funny, must watch’
102
Meh. I sill have a landline, and I don't even turn on my basic cell phone most of the time. There is a way out of this, folks.
2
Everyone waxes philosophic about the good old days with landlines and cellphones. Give me a break. Go back to that if you want.
I will stick to having a supernatural device that fits in my pocket and is more powerful than a 100 foot wide computer from a couple decades ago.
2
Do you think the phone of the President has been hacked? My guess is yes. By how many countries and entities is the next question.
5
If I understand the WSJ report today, there was no hack on the man's phone. There was no evidence of such an occurrence. The leak was thought to be from Beso's brother in law.
Too bad for the conspiracy theorists.
2
The attack on Jeff Bezos is known as spear phishing. Becoming a quote "target of interest" means a hacker is attacking you specifically. Not just carpet bombing random email addresses. A method we simply call phishing. It's the difference between tapping a phone line and a CB scanner. One is a way more targeted approach than the other.
Most people don't need to worry too much about spear phishing though. If you work in a building or industry subject to regular spear phishing attacks, your IT department should have trained you. Hint: If you find a random thumb drive in your parking lot, don't plug it into your computer.
However, these attacks are intentional and malicious. They don't address the underlying vulnerability in networked technology. The so called "internet of things." You need to understand the internet is fundamentally a public space. Banking online is roughly equivalent to using the bathroom behind a bush in the local park. Good chance no one will see you but...
The good news is most of us aren't interesting enough. Anonymity through monotonous banality. The bad news is the law of averages still applies. Your networked information is still valuable in aggregate. It's just not illegal to collect it. The really bad news is consumers will find it increasingly hard to avoid networked technology.
Bezos chose to have cameras in his home. The average consumer probably won't have a choice soon. What is your smart phone other than a GPS locator?
7
@Andy
Apparently not, apparently the "attack" never happened. The FBI says the world's richest man sent them to his the love of his life who sent them to her brother who sent them to the Enquirer.
.
Oops. Nevermind the spear fishing. Spear fishing dies in darkness.
1
Don't care in what context, it chafes to think of Donald Trump as high-value, but is he not the archetype?
2
I was wondering why Bezos and other famous folks do not use "burner" phones with essentially blank memories. Maybe Jeff cannot afford one after buying those purple octopus swim trunks.
2
Lots of people have never been hacked, probably because they really care about it. Those who don't care, might never realize whether or not they have been hacked.
Perhaps Trump does not have anything on his phone that he is concerned about anyone seeing. Anyone with any knowledge at all would not have things on their phone that they want kept private. Jeff Bezos, above all, should know this. Everyone should expect that all information on their phone will be published on the internet tomorrow. Beware if what you store on you phone-this is not going to change.
1
As Americas good friend edward snowden told us, ''they are in every line, every transaction, every electronic thing we do'', for which they would like to lock him up for life-
we have a forth amendment -it is a shame more people are not so intent on defending it- say the way the right is about guns...the comparison only goes to their zeal and not their rationality..
The solutions are political- can we return this country to one that is governed by the people and not market forces and the military industrial complex et all?
That is the hope the only hope.. of course the surveillance ability makes it pretty easy to chop down anyone or any movement that gets motion going forward.. by design of course...
so turn it on them- do not try to keep anything private- scream it out loud day and night....
1
The Stasi managed to spy on everyone, before cell phones, "smart" phones and personal computers. My favorite Stasi transcript was printed in this paper, and ran something like this: "I'd like a sausage with mustard." They also recorded people using the toilet.
Funny you should mention 2FA. One of the most popular 2FA methods is to use an authenticator program, such as Google Authenticator on Android, which uses time based secrets. However, if your phone is susceptible to viral mail, the authenticator might not be that safe after all.
So I bought a $75 used Android phone, reset it, and set up Google Authenticator on that, with no SIM card, and then turned of all connectivity (Wifi, Bluetooth). Now my main phone is free of Authenticator, plugging one potential security hole.
Yes, of course, but the thought that one is entitled to privacy to be defended and protected over bajillions of venues and inroads is highly risky. Bezos was kinda cavalier casual about the content of his messages... he can and can't afford, as a richest in the world, to toss his casuals into the fray.
I would like more information about how the hackers use a video to get into a device. Does this mean that we can’t look at videos, even from people we know? I’ve seen questionable videos in messages from friends on Facebook’s Messenger app. But I also get a lot of legit videos in messages from friends, too.
@L. K.
Yes it does. Thus, clumsy advise such as only click on links from people whom know or acquainted with contacts is made futile from proper digital hygiene practices perspective. What "secrets" do you have that get to "keep" on your handy to probe anyway?:)
Who is more powerful in America than Jeff Bezos ?
Owner of one of the most powerful journal Washington Post and Amazon the number one online store.
If he could not control or own his privacy, then what about the rest of us ?
Then Saudi Arabia makes me raise my eyebrows, has trump has anything to do with it ?
Hmm..
5
Everyone keeps suggesting that I get a smartphone...I just can't.
I like my desk top.
3
I still have my flip phone, it was free, it takes photos, sends texts, but a lot of people can't hear me. Still, when I was run over, I was damaged, but my phone wasn't, so I just can't part with it yet. Old people tend to drop things, and if I drop the phone, it doesn't break. It doesn't need to be charged every day, either.
1
There's no such thing as a secure computer. Hackers have gotten around 2-factor authentication already. What's more terrifying people have been lulled into a false sense of security that tech companies ( corporations /financial institutions) stay up all night worrying about securing your data, they don't. Number one, corporations aren't willing to pay computer techs for their expertise. Number two, all companies have to be a security companies. Again aren't willing to pay millions of dollars annually to secure customer data. For those waiting on AI to take car of this, my goodness that's another can of worms.
The public is going to have to decide what price are we willing to pay for convenience and speed. It appears we've been more than willing to give up our data at the asking.
1
Two factor authentication is the new minimum.
Long passwords and two factor.
Most of us must use a computer.
I hate to say this but it sounds like bezos decided that any app on his phone is safe. I don't trust any app.
4
I won't use two factor authentication. Facebook keeps nagging me because it turned out they were using the data - our phone numbers - to harass us. I'm sure others do this as well. I get enough junk calls as it is.
At least tell us you are using a long password that you don’t use anywhere else.
Use an Authenticator app like the one from Microsoft
And it is not a junk call when you get that call asking you to confirm your login from Russia while you happily browsing FB at home.
I didn’t think so anyway.
Is there a single presidential candidate who is making this a priority? Or instead are we seeing candidates and legislators who are either oblivious, or alternately who want to erode our privacy further? Will we start to see questions about data privacy in any upcoming presidential debate?
Politicians don't have a clue. Obama was basically a good person, but he didn't hesitate to bail out the banks and let the rest of us go under. Millions of homes were foreclosed and millions of abandoned pets were left behind to die. Most people can't afford Obamacare. Obama didn't hesitate to sign the Monsanto Protection Act, giving these mad scientists the green light to poison our food and everything else. And that was a GOOD president! Look at what the bad ones are doing.
After reading the comments on this opinion piece, I realized that a not-insignificant percentage of respondents seemed to miss the point entirely because they truly didn't care that terabytes of information about every facet of their daily lives is being collected. Their takeaway seemed to be making sure their passwords were secure.
1
My daily life is so boring, they can have it. Recently I was forced to share hundreds of emails from work with a "concerned member of the public." Most of them were directed at new hires, so it was "thank you, Prof. X, for sending your syllabus," "Hi, Prof. Y, here is your class list" without the attachment, to protect student privacy. I could hardly conceal my glee that some twit was going to have to read all these emails. The hackers will have even more fun with my bloodwork. I wish one of them would get back to me with a diagnosis.
1
Anyone that thinks anything that is entered into a "computer" connected to any other computer system is going to be private is hopelessly naive. If you don't wan the world to be able to see it, don't digitize it.
3
Hmmm. I think I understand that. The man and woman in the streets – as well as their colleagues, relatives, neighbors, extended family members – are to be terrified and should brace to take a hit. I'm an underpaid college professor who sympathizes, empathizes and feels comradery with the m-w-in--the-street. Except Jeffie ain't no pushover and he could, if he wanted and hasn't already tried, to marshal substantial mercenary forces for a blowback to the Saudi Prince if he wanted – and few more 1%-centers might join him.
What's my point? I hope Jeff snuffs the Prince in some form or fashion, so that we can focus on Jeff's plan to make Amazon the dominate corporation to take over first America and then the rest of the world.
1
"... his phone had most likely been attacked in 2018 after he received a WhatsApp message from the prince’s personal account."
Unless the Crown Prince has incredibly incompetent advisors, it is inconceivable that he would have approved the use of his personal account for a cyber-attack.
If his personal account was, in fact, the source of the malware, people should be asking how his account was accessed.
NB: WhatsApp messages can be sent from computers -- it is not restricted to phones. (per whatsapp web site)
4
Some brilliant thinkers, Stephen Hawking among them, have mused that the answer to Fermi's Paradox — If there is intelligence out there in the universe, why hasn't it contacted us? — is that technological civilizations *inevitably* destroy themselves, one way or another, before they can develop to the point of being able to truly reach out across galactic space.
Maybe, maybe not. But it's a certainty that we pathetic little humans have gotten ourselves in quite a pickle with the wonderful advances in technology that we were led to like lambs to the slaughter.
31
@CB Evans
Humans experience life in 3 dimensions. Time is a possible fourth.
Physicists will tell you that there are at least 10! Who knows what's taking place in those dimensions.
While discussing this question with a buddy he said, "Right now, in one of those dimensions is a pack of aliens sitting around, laughing at us."
My dad used to say, "You don't know, what you don't know!"
2
Here're some ideas from a 49 year old tech-loving designer:
1) Turn off "location services" on your phones unless you REALLY need everyone to know where you are.
2) Stop downloading craptacular apps for useless things to cut down on the number of vulnerabilities and backdoors
3) DO NOT click on every pop-up or moving graphic that you see, it's a path to getting yourself hacked
4) Back up your phone info to an actual physical hard drive at your home. The "cloud" is just a lame marketing term for a remote server... that can be hacked just as easily as the next (Equifax, Adobe, LinkedIn, et al).
5) You want something you say to be private? Use a public phone (after you wipe it down, of course!). Cell conversations/texts are DECIDELY not private, don't fool yourselves.
6) stop responding to that Pavlovian urge to get the new shiny every year; my iPhone 5s is still capable enough to run the latest version of iOS, and my wife still uses a Samsung clamshell, for chrissakes.
Finally, smart phones are not a talismans that we should worship, they're tools; fairly clumsy tools, at that. Get over your shot-attention span, put the damn thing down, and interact with your fellow humans.
12
@KiruDub
Either during ocean "rescue" aqua therapy swatting or annoying me within confines of private unit doesn't bode well for those that initiate nuisances. Superseded them in this realm.
Many years ago, Quentin Crisp saw this coming. At the time, lots of celebrities were complaining about paparazzi spying on every boring moment of their private lives. He advised us all to learn to relieve ourselves with style.
I would never use one of those listening devices like Alexa in my home or office. The last thing I want is Google, Bezos, the cops, the IRS, the FBI and that bunch listening in on me.
Recently my buddy who has one of these pernicious devices in his home offered someone a Pepsi. Later that day he started seeing ads for Pepsi.
I can't have this. I'll turn on my own lights and thermostats and devices, thank you.
14
"Recently my buddy ... offered someone a Pepsi. Later that day he started seeing ads for Pepsi."
As an experiment, did he also offer someone else a Coke? :-)
More seriously, he should be able to disable unwanted advertising, but without knowing which service he is using it is impossible to make specific suggestions.
Jeff Bezos is feeling the consequences of the surveillance technology he has been on the forefront of creating (Amazon devices and tracking of sites visited) albeit for maximizing profits. He now finds that said technology is being used to fight him and the paper that leaders around the world view as their enemy or at least an inconvenience to be sure. In this new world of technology driven marketing campaigns,
Political campaigns and in the world of image consultants in general, the goal is to sow doubt about the truth so that enough people start denying what they’re in fact seeing. Once that happens Bezos, Trump, Putin, China and the Saudi family can start shaping the world they desire.
5
How did 3 tech companies acquire all of their competitors? In past the government broke up Standard OIL and ATT into smaller companies. Are there antitrust laws anymore?
8
How do you do dual factor for email when you travel abroad and your phone number is not the same as when in US? In my experience this just means I can’t get my gmail when traveling, so I stopped doing two factor. Perhaps I’m missing an alternative that doesn’t involve your phone as the second factor.
"How do you do dual factor for email when you travel abroad and your phone number is not the same as when in US?"
I'm not sure what the problem is in your case, but "dual factor authentication" can be achieved in several ways.
Since you use gmail, I suggest that you look at the available documentation instead of asking for tech support in a Times comment.
Start by doing a web search for "Google 2-Step Verification", or, as I did, search for "gmail dual factor".
1
Set up an authentication app like the one from Microsoft.
This is an eye opening piece. I will bet you that Amazon employees are required to follow strict security protocols, but their boss, nope. As a federal contractor I can’t even count all the security protocols I use to login to a dot gov account. It’s a headache but the rules are in place for good reasons. And not following the rules is how Clinton’s emails got hacked. See the pattern? When I was contracting at the FAA a few years ago I overheard how a phishing scheme infiltrated FAA offices in Washington state. They had to “destroy 40 computers”. Air traffic control is a target for hackers.
I know tech security is inconvenient but everyone can easily pick up an STD - Software Transmitted Disease - if they don’t take precautions.
8
Let’s see an article that is heavier on practical ideas. Start with best practices for router security, home appliance security (details please), laptop, mobile phone, auto. How safe are the password saving apps? Which holes can’t be plugged? Like which autos. Details please.
2
@Mary
Good point. Everyone should have a long unique password for every single account.
There are a couple of authentication apps which work well like Google Authenticator.
I don’t trust “smart” appliances especially smart speakers. They’re unnecessarily expensive and not designed to be secure.
iOS beats Android for security hands down.
7
Go ahead, hack mine, nothing of importance on it. I will never get to the point of my phone being at the center of all my finances or anything else.
5
"Go ahead, hack mine, nothing of importance on it."
Don't be too sure about that. Do you have email addresses and telephone numbers on it?
If so, your contacts are potential targets. And from there, a hacked contact can email you malware. That's called a "loop-back hack".
1
Let me guess he was using the Amazon Fire phone that he helped design and stupendously flopped for all of his calls and texts.
5
"Let me guess he was using the Amazon Fire phone ..."
Instead of guessing, it would be more constructive to actually read the linked Times article, which repeatedly says it was an iPhone:
"In mid-May 2019, Mr. Bezos handed over his iPhone X and asked FTI to run a full analysis on it, ..."
1
Bezos opened a WhatsApp message from a sketchy character on his personal iPhone.
Bezos isn't real tech savvy.
12
You don't have to use a smart phone. It's not mandatory.
The more educated a person is, the less likely they are to own one.
4
I would feel better about this hack if the Saudis had cleared out all of Bezos' accounts, transferred his Amazon stock, and left him broke. Where the behavior of his company is concerned, no justice seems too harsh.
7
Next will we find out that the Prince asked Bezos to wire him money and that Bezos is still waiting for the money to be returned to him?
3
BREAKING NEWS: a Times tech writer has discovered that tech corporate p.r is fake news, that "internet security" is an actually an oxymoron.
The bad guys are as smart as the good guys and often more motivated. It has always been thus. For many years it has been apparent to anyone who was not a corporate shill, a self-deluding gaper attracted to every bit of tech glitter, or simply too intellectually lazy to face up to unintended (and sometimes intended) consequences that, long after Trump is gone, we will still be dealing with the seriously pernicious effects of the internet.
Forget the electric grid being taken down; forget our nuclear command-and-control structure being hijacked; forget drones and self-driving cars creating massive unemployment among suicide bombers. If the man or woman taking over the Epilepsy Society's twitter account and inserting a strobe light causing seizures in viewers doesn't convince you the world of technogizmos is out of control, nothing will.
Oh, and let's skip the false "hope" that regulations will solve the problems. Putting it simply, with the internet as it exists, regulations are unenforceable.
8
Of course it should terrify us. First thing I thought after reading that the Saudi's were trying to hack his phone was that "if they can do it to him they can do it to me". That's what I thought.
But I need my phone.
Life was more simple before the internet and high tech devices. Communication was by land line, snail mail and conversation. I miss the conversation, nothing is more disheartening than walking into a coffee house with every ones face buried in their smartphones ignoring one another.
Stay off the Apps Jeff along with social media.
8
Someone was always listening! Remember operators and party lines? And phone taps? Listening to others' phone conversations is as old as Alexander Graham Bell himself.
Maybe we should go back to using our phones as, you know, phones?
72
Agreed. I might get a rotary phone.
1
Imho the Saudis , ironically, are in cahoots with the Israelis. Israel is the world leader in phone hacking technology and may be sharing it with their new best friends. How Israel thinks this won’t end badly for them is a mystery to me.
3
Imagine all the hacking taking place on Donald Trump’s phone. He is sharing classified information with the world.
13
Kudos to the Crown Prince. Doesn't quite measure up to Pres. Obama's hack of Angela Merkel's phone but impressive none the less.
2
Sorry, but Jeff Bezos's phone hack doesn't "terrify" me in the least.
.
What terrifies me is that people like Bezos buy newspapers and use them to shove their agenda down our throats.
.
That's terrifying.
13
@West Coaster Bezos does not control Washington Post content. He owns it but the editors exercise independent judgement.
1
People espouse minimalism and then sign on to every privacy busting device and web sites with regularity. The internet is inherently porous and we know EVERYBODY can be hacked at any time and the IT folks in America are beaten daily by hackers. The idiots who invited Bezos into their homes through Google Assistant, which Google monitors, get what they deserve. They still say the "cloud" is safe when hackers have been caught stealing data in the "cloud". We bring this on ourselves and disconnecting from the internet will soon become popular. You only expose yourself like this on the internet and if the world operated like the internet we would leave our money, and privacy, laying around outside anywhere. This is also why you should eschew EVERY Social Media site. That is just asking for trouble.
2
More than a little irony that there is an ADT ad for video doorbell and outside camera on same page as this solid article on digital privacy.
2
You have to ask yourself, Would I really give my phone number to Crown Prince MBS? Considering his long track record of brutality, murder, and oppression? My idea is that Americans have to be reminded over and over again not to be stupid when the devil asks you for your soul.
6
Hmmm, I wonder how many people at this very moment are furiously trying to find out if their phones have been comprimised....Jared.
7
What terrifies me is the alliance -- or Satan's Pact -- between Trump and the murderous Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Trump hasn't sold his soul because he doesn't have a soul, but he has sold out his country to MBS for personal and political gain. Saudi Arabia, which supplied most of the 9/11 hijackers, was not included in the list of countries on Trump's Muslim travel ban. And MBS got a pass from Washington for murdering Kashoggi. In return, he is hacking the phones of Trump's enemies -- and perhaps doing even worse -- to ingratiate himself with Trump and manipulate Kushner, whom he secretly despises as a "useful idiot."
13
Why do Times columnists routinely insist that I should be “terrified?” Is this a clickbait technique (guess it worked in my case)? And how dissatisfying to read the article that fails to justify the alarming headline. Instead of a thoughtful article that suggests real solutions or a call to action, we are presented with another rehash of personal safety tips mixed with despondence.
5
When you're old, the only terror left is that you won't die, but will have to rot slowly in a nursing home. When I was run down, I wasn't scared, merely startled; the biggest horror wasn't the injuries but the medical bills.
1
Just a short comment on the headline; please stop telling me I should be terrified. Every day the NYT tells me I should be terrified of this or that or something else. I'd appreciate it if you'd stop.
14
Bezos should have been smart enough to use burner phones to text/talk with his girlfriend. Smart people do stupid stuff.
9
If this happened to Jeff Bezos - clearly knowledgeable, not known for ignoring advice from a pool of experts working for him - what does portend for POTUS, who is famous for knowing more about anything than anyone and who is known to use devices that literally no one else in the government would be allowed to because of security constraints?
2
Gee, maybe we should just return to using our phones as, well... As phones.
1
Amazing. I actually have better digital security than Bezos. I always use 2 step authentication, don't use the same password across accounts, and don't leave written passwords where people can find them. And there are very few stupid comments and no embarrassing photos in any email or on social media. It appears that I'm also smarter than Bezos.
"...as it turns out, many of those with the most to lose are woefully inept at safeguarding their privacy."
Why? Because they all think they are smarter than everyone else. Duh! The same mentality that makes them think they can save the world, to teach us how to be better humans by "hacking our body codes", or of course using their Apps or devices to be more complete as humans.
Its their inherent hubris. Seems the very wealthy are prone to being suckered!
1
How many members of Congress have been hacked?
And so on.......
1
Trump uses an interesting strategy. Before a hacker can seek the president's most embarrassing, distasteful and ill-informed thoughts, he broadcasts 'em.
5
“The majority of clients we onboard come on in some kind of hacked state,”
When did "onboard" become a verb?
6
Yes, and "gift" - people give, they don't gift. A gift is a noun.
1
A Quote from this page:
"The Times collects data on its visitors..."
So, does WhatsApp it seems. You can be sure there are many actors collecting everything they can about you. This is why we need privacy laws. A person's data including metadata should belong to that person.
1
I don't use a smart phone, and I stay connected just fine. I shop with regular cash at a real store, have actual conversations and pay bills with checks or on my land-line, and if something requires creation of an "account" I skip it, period. I comment here, and two other papers, because I created the accounts with a long-unused e-mail address from the 20th century. Terrify, my foot. I laugh. Nothing on the internet or a smart phone is private. Never has been, never will be, and only a foolish person thinks otherwise.
5
More privacy just means more money laundering.
1
For sharing private thoughs, write a letter.
For home security, get a dog.
Use phones to order pizza, that is what they are best for.
1
I wonder how many foreign powers have hacked into Trump's phone.
2
Has anyone checked the phone of Jared Kushner? He communicates with MBS on WhatsApp.
6
"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." (Douglas MacArthur)
2
I have no sympathy for him. He can surely afford to get a new telephone.
1
Jeff Bezos has a phone?
I’m so over this hyperbolic fear language. Terrifying? Come on.
3
Do we actually believe the report that the Saudi prince hacked his phone?
1
Was Bezos using an Andriod device or an iPhone?
1
1. Being terrified is a waste of emotion and time.
2. Security podcasts (I enjoy TWIT.tv’s “Security Now” weekly broadcasts) are free and easily available on the internet and via streaming tv services.
1
Go ahead and hack my phone or whatever, and maybe you can steal the $800 in my bank account.
Those poor billionaires have to work really hard to protect all their money!
2
@Kristen You have more valuable data than that - your identity could be stolen . That could really be very disruptive to your life
Nothing to worry about if you aren't doing anything wrong
3
MBS: a master at hacking whether with bone saw or phone saw . . .
2
Actually its Jeff Bezos and Amazon that should scare everybody.
1
Because I have a violent, narcissistic, wealthy ex, I am constantly terrified of being hacked, literally and figuratively. It’s no way to live. There must be a way to make ourselves safe from those who wish us ill or determined to take advantage of us in some way.
37
@Lilly
Sister, you're not the only one. And I couldn't agree more with your comment.
1
@Lilly
One way is not to get involved with violent, narcissistic, wealthy people. Problem solved.
way back then when Facebook was new, I and many of my friends recognized it for what it is...a great tool to get to know the others on your college campus. We knew we don't need that. We have active communication with anyone we know and want to communicate with. I didn't need to know if someone I know peripherally has chosen to wear a sweater today. I also chose not to do any banking on line. After Thanksgiving dinner several years ago, son's friend employed by banking security said "with what I know, I would never bank online!" I took her advice. This all requires me to keep life as simple as possible. The result is that I never worry about getting hacked. It's worth the very small amount of extra time I don't save by doing it the old fashioned way.
1
They hack you anyway, a teller once stole $1000 from my bank account, but I did eventually get it back.
We are all already so terrified by so many things in this ongoing political and climate nightmare. Asking is to be terrified by yet another thing is a bit much.
1
My bank accounts, credit cards and store cards have been hacked, sometimes more than once. Also my credit report was compromised (Thanks, Experian). At no point has this happened because of something I’ve done, like using “password” as my password. All this proves is that if it can happen to Bezos, it really can happen to anyone. Not comforting but it is the reality we live with today.
10
Digital devices can not be used safely. Highly recommend you do not use an iPhone. A laptop or PC are bad enough. All it takes is one episode of indiscretion or criminal hack and you are done. A word to the wise is sufficient.
Please read WSJ report. There is no evidence that Saudi Arabia was responsible. I am no fan of the Saudis who are responsible for much of terrorism elsewhere and was disgusted by the Khashoggi killing.
I am not saying the Saudis were not involved. Just that there is no evidence it was the message from MBS that was responsible. If it was the message, it would have been far too easy for digital foresnics to forward the msg or the downloaded video to determine if its malware. Clearly they could not find anything in it.
And for goodness sake stop saying the UN has accused someone. Two employees working for the UN have suggested something. That's all. They do not represent the UN and I did not see the UN accuse Saudi Arabia - yet.
1
Everyone?
That only benefits people like Bezos, public figures that can afford justice.
If it happens to be me or you, there is nothing you can do about it if you do not have a lot of money.
There is no federal law enforcement agency that will care or do anything about it.
So why should I care about the privileged?
2
Hack my phone and you will learn that my wife and I have trouble deciding what to eat for dinner and that one of both of us are always running late.
Oh, and that we take lots of pictures our our dog and cat.
The rest doesn't bother me. If someone wants the data, they will get the data. Besides, I have free monitoring thanks to three corporate hacks. So far, so good.
3
It seems to me that attacks by leaders of Russia, Saudi Arabia and even our country have gotten brazen in recent years. Trump does not even seem to try to cover up his attempts to blackmail other countries, Putin sends agents to other countries with poison to eliminate people he does not like, the Prince of Saudi eliminates a reporter for the Washington Post. None of these actions really were covert operations but really were in your face types as if to say stop me if you can.
12
When Trump goes into those meetings with Putin, sans notetakers or his own interpreter, Putin smiles that creepy smile of his, leans over up close and personal and recites in the competent English he can speak a few tidbits from the hacked transcripts of the conversations Trump has been making on his poorly secured phone during the election and there ever after.
The Stormy Daniels affair shows how Trump has perfected the art of buying off his blackmailers with abandon. How does he buy off Putin? With your suppressed votes. With his Ukraine maneuver. By shaking the resolve of NATO. By skirmishing with China while Russia takes over the Middle East. Et cetera and so forth.
Trump is the highest value target on offer and the most vulnerable to carelessly exposing his devices. He's been cyber trumped. Now he's their asset. Read it here. Know it's true.
20
You'll have to forgive me for experiencing a moment of schadenfreude when I read about this.
8
Maybe the Bezos hack will FINALLY bring us some decent Digital Security/Privacy laws in the US.
If ANYONE can throw enough money at it to get it done, Jeff can.
1
The linked article shows only the iPhone steps for disabling Ad ID. On an Android phone you may need to go to Settings > Google > Ad > Opt out of Ads Personalization. (Note that if you clear your phone's cache in the future, they may reset this back to "off", so that you'll be tracked again.)
1
just keep your old blackberry, like I have. it really isn't capable of running many of these newfangled apps. i don't miss them and nobody hacks my phone. oh snap, blackberry will stop support for the OS in the not too distant future.
1
@local
Be careful...old tech can be more vulnerable since the software is typically not updated for security flaws.
1
Not to mention the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, with a security clearance, uses WhatsApp.
1
Mr. Warzel,
Does it make a difference whether one deletes a Whatsapp message with a movie before downloading it? I was added to group consisting of old high school friends where lots of content of dubious origin gets posted. I clear everything on a regular basis, without first opening/downloading. Is this enough to protect from hacks via Whatsapp movies a la MBS? Thanks.
You have the option to leave the group in WhatsApp. Just tell your old friends you didn’t want to get Bezoed.
1
Reading this reminds of the idea that Trump uses a hackable phone in order to be hacked by American adversaries, ie Russia. What an easy way to send messages--especially, if you know they're listening.
5
Someone could make a great deal of money and we could all be a great deal happier, and safer, if the whole charade of 'passwords' was done away with forever. Clearly creating new passwords for every use is not what people, whomever they are, want to spend their time doing. Since equally clearly passwords are useless for keeping others from our accounts, why can't they be abolished, and replaced with a system that works. If passwords are a joke, they are a bad one.
5
charlie, come on. you can do better than "terrifying revelations" and "astronomically high stakes" based on an analysis that info experts find inconclusive.
climate change is the astronomically high stakes at this historical moment. phishing and hacking are mere exploits of digital bandits.
the "terrors" you describe are the risks of modern infrastructure, not the risks to privacy. i'm more worried about an auto collision while doing errands than about hacking of my personal data. risks are everywhere.
sure, i am wary. i duct tape all user facing cameras on all my digital devices. i do not use google products and block all google gmails from my web site server. i don't have a facebook or twitter account. i have zero apps on my cellphone and store zero files on any corporate "cloud;" i backup all devices locally. i have different passwords on every corporate domain and a system to remember them all without a "password manager." i have ad and tracking blockers on all browsers and use services that deliver anonymity (fastmail.com and duckduckgo.com).
do these steps protect my privacy? of course not, not against committed hackers, not against sovereign agents. these are protests more than preventions.
end of day: if you fear a drug, don't swallow it; if you fear a technology, don't use it. fear is the real harm here, fear and whining and dithering.
quit pretending you're a cow in a grandin chute. you're a human. you can choose to enter or not, and on your own terms.
2
"... We absolutely do not see good use of dual factor authentication
on email, health care and financial accounts."
So what are we supposed to do if two-factor authentication can also be compromised, as described in a recent NYTimes Op-Ed?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/opinion/2fa-cyberattacks-security.html
Yesterday I did a Google search to compare calories and fat content between bacon and the canned meat Spam. A few minutes ago while reading New York Times online, several ads for Spam popped up..... terrifying!
1
@Susan Stewart
Have seen such too often....e.g. looked up cost of a dental implant and then got lots of ad for dental implants...cheap too.
Not to minimize how smart, malicious , and dangerous the bad actors are, nor to suggest that we needn't be proactive about protecting ourselves, but: Isn't it time we all threw Alexa and home internet camera security systtems in the trash? Do the benefits of those technologies really outweigh the risks? Think about what Neil Postman asked: "What is the problem, to which this technology is the solution?"
“I’d say we see less than 1 percent of high-net-worth individuals using dual factor.”
Money can buy many things. Wisdom is not one of them.
“For someone who’s truly a high-value target, there is no way to safely use a digital device.”
UHNWI’s could learn a few things from drug dealers.
Maybe I should be terrified, I'm not.
If I get to the point in my life where I need to be concerned about world leaders hacking me via Whatsapp then I'll just have to have my butler bring me a stiff drink while I sun myself in Monaco.
Till then if anyone is truly interested in what I'm doing day to day, knock yourself out, it ain't that interesting.
3
I'd be concerned that every major news outlet is being hacked by one of Trump's crony countries. Let's see how many investigative stories fall apart or are torpedoed outright as the election gets closer.
“For someone who’s truly a high-value target, there is no way to safely use a digital device.”
True. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's private phone was hacked by the US
1
Perhaps the FBI should hire the Saudis to break into all the locked iPhones they need help with. They seem to be very good at hacking into encrypted devices and apps.
Jeff Bezos’s phone hack does not terrify me-first because I am the lowest value target in the universe and second, because I would never use WhatsApp with the naive notion that someone would not try to hack.Amazon sells devices which collect user’s information and Amazon collects an ample profile on their customers so I assume that Jeff Bezos does not take privacy seriously, unless his privacy is breached!If he is the richest man in the world he can protect his privacy-unless he wants the world to see the “new” Bezos-I was fond of the younger, more serious man.
1
I am mystified by the persistence of the theory that the Bezos phone hack could only have been accomplished by some world class hacker deploying tools that Bezos, the richest man in the world, was powerless to stop. In fact, as my colleagues pointed out in a piece for the Independent yesterday, it's quite likely that the hacker used a very simple method to access Bezos's phone, which many of you are probably susceptible to as you sit here reading this:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jeff-bezos-phone-hack-mbs-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi-whatsapp-a9299516.html
The article is very short, but here's the Cliff Notes version: WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, has a default setting that automatically downloads photos and videos to your camera roll, even if you don't click on them. Even if you turn this default off, the next time you accept a trusted photo or video that someone sends to you, the settings revert to the default. Unless you reset them again, you are exposed. This seems the most plausible way that they got access to Bezos's data.
The question everyone should be asking is why Facebook/WhatsApp baked this into the app? And how will they make make good the people who have been harmed by it?
I think the key here is not to accept texts from a murderer like MBS.
1
Hard to believe, but I received a connection request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Linked In this week. I didn't accept it, because I have no personal or business interest in being connected to him, didn't know if the connection request was authentic, and the fact that MBS wanted to connect was just too creepy. What's going on?
2
That’s why have a Apple phone!
How about taking this and a lot of other things as a wake up call regarding Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States? I remember years ago a Bronx guy murders 10 people; the DA doesn't seek the death penalty; headline: "What's a Guy Gotta Do". Same thing here except the death toll is in the 1000s. People---starting with the paper of record---need to wake up; the threat is real.
Forget about someone hacking your phone!
What if someone Hacks your mortgage Docs and steals $500,000 of your Home Equity and is in Brazil when the Bank calls you for the new Mortgage payment?
1
Pretty disappointed in Bezos' having a hack-able phone. Does he realize just how many folks rely on him and what he has created ? What hubris to be that lackadaisical. I expected WAY more from the world's so-called wealthiest human.
2
Almost nobody would leave the front door of their house or apartment unlocked but it's as if everyone leaves the front door to their entire financial and private life unlocked. It's all just much more complicated than the deadbolt on the door.
How many people take nude pictures of themselves and partners? That seems an odd practice except in fine art painting or tabloid reporting. But just for fun? Not so much fun anymore.
The most terrifying question is who else have had their phones hacked. Trump refuse to get rid of his personal phone on use a secured instead. He is afraid that such a phone would allow "the deep state" to follow his activities. Instead he becomes an easy victim for people like Putin and MBS (remember their high five). The rest of his family are equally paranoid and easy to dupe. Maybe the question should not be who have kompromat on Trump and his family, but who doesn't?
70
@Ivan
The point of "smartphone ownership" consists of cognitive hacking to debilitate users base in droves projects and those risks tend to exceed digital penetration for non sanctioned usage vulnerabilities which are undeniably abundant in those operating systems duopoly environment possibilities to exercise breaches make happen events.
@Ivan
The point of "smartphone ownership" consists of vast cognitive hacking to debilitate users base in droves, prone to wearing digital leashes projects to manage as well as supervise deplorable "serfs" disguised as citizens and those risks tend to exceed digital penetration for non sanctioned usage vulnerabilities which are undeniably abundant in those operating systems duopoly environment possibilities to exercise breaches make happen events presumptions to be relegated into factual events scenarios.
@Ivan Trump was probably already obligated to Putin and others via his shady business dealings. So why protect his phone. Plus his ego is so big he would rather the whole world hears of all his great doings! Why hide anything, except when it comes to impeachment or breaking laws while in office!
9
Top notch encryption is useless if you let the attacker in the front door.
31
@Robert Arnold
Of course, that is an astute observation. That is why by design whether you utilize Android, Windows 10 or Apple Ios all of those platforms assure that have been permeated with plenty of backdoors to collect data provisions being intact by design toward serfs that seek "secrecy" impossibility while rudimentary privacy has been available to keep intact concept as a matter of basic existential factors to go on .
If the Saudi crown prince hacked Bezos' phone, we can be sure he also hacked the phones of his 'friends' Jared Kushner and Donald Trump, with whom, we are told, he also frequently exchanged messages. A terrifying thought. What secrets endangering US national security did he get his hands on by now?
120
@Elisabeth Phone hacking is one thing, kidnapping people on American soil and taking them back to Saudi Arabia is quite another. The FBI stopped an attack on a student before he was taken at the airport. This should frighten everyone who condemn MBS.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/regime-critic-says-saudis-tried-to-kidnap-him-on-us-soil?ref=home
8
I doubt the Saudi king had to hack for military and other strategic info. His buddy trump likely just hands it over gratis or rather as quid pro quo.
10
@Elisabeth
Even better question: what dirt did MBS gather on Don and Javanka to blackmail then with?
Collecting data should be illegal or regulated in favor of the user/people/customer not in favor of the organization that is taking the data without authorization.
2
My solution? Live the happy life of a Luddite. My phone is mainly used for calls. I have two apps—Goggle maps and one for the weather. Whether it’s my phone or my computer, I do only the minimum—check my emails or maybe Google something. Banking or something similar? No way. Am I being tracked? I’m sure I am, as little as I do. I have very few passwords, so if they hack into my knitting website, so what? Really, I don’t understand everyone’s fascination with technology. Too many books to read.
17
Bezos' phone hack barely embarrassed him at all, which sorta undercuts the point of this article. The ultra wealthy dont have to be concerned about their digital privacy unless it is genuinely incriminating info. To put it a different way, 1%ers dont care -- unless a personal hack impacts their personal fortunes or political ambitions. The most interesting thing about the Bezos hack is that Bezos is so above it all that he dared the hackers to publish the nudepics and then published them himself. It was a solid strategy and it worked, but of course that works only if you are at the very top of the food chain.
4
My my, a Times tech writer just discovered the wheel.
The bad guys are as smart as the good guys and often more motivated. 'twas always thus. It has been obvious for many, many years to anyone who was not a corporate shill, a self-deluding person attracted to every bit of glitter, or simply intellectually lazy that, long after Trump, the worry-of-the-day, is gone, we will still be dealing with the pernicious effects of the internet.
Forget the electric grid being taken down; forget our nuclear command-and-control structure being hijacked; forget drones and self-driving cars creating massive unemployment among suicide bombers. If the man or woman taking over the Epilepsy Society's twitter account and inserting a strobe light causing seizures in viewers doesn't convince you, nothing will.
Oh, and skip the false/pretend/corporate sponsored "hope" that regulations will solve the problems. Putting it simply, with the internet as it exists, they are unenforceable.
2
I am mystified by the persistence of the theory that the Bezos phone hack could only have been accomplished by some world class hacker deploying tools that Bezos, the richest man in the world, was powerless to stop. In fact, as my colleagues pointed out in a piece for the Independent yesterday, it's quite likely that the hacker used a very simple method to access Bezos's phone, which many of you are probably susceptible to as you sit here reading this.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, has a default setting that automatically downloads photos and videos to your camera roll, even if you don't click on them. Even if you turn this default off, the next time you accept a trusted photo or video that someone sends to you, the settings revert to the default. Unless you reset them again, you are exposed. This seems the most plausible way that they got access to Bezos's data.
The question everyone should be asking is why Facebook/WhatsApp baked this into the app? And how will they make make good the people who have been harmed by it?
1
The invasion of Bezos privacy couldn't have happened to a more deserving person since, as the author indicates, Bezos runs a massive privacy invading operation, collecting private data, using it and selling it.
Equally deserving of personal privacy invasion are the master spies of the tech industry like Zuckerfu..., Google leaders, and the like. Add in, too, all of the politicians who authorize the intense spying on all of us done by the government.
9
Bingo. And people are FANS of that creep! People would actually rather beg him for a job, someone who'd they have arrested if he did ANY ONE of the things he does to their daughter WITHOUT waving a logo and big cash around, than vote for someone Sane like AOC. People would actually let him get a look in their house AND blame AOC for not letting him Create Jobs, ones he's "creating" just fine in NYC *WITHOUT* "HQ2". 🤦
Obscurity is the best protection of privacy. Even in this day and age. Low tech solution to a high tech problem.
21
@NYC Amen. Don't do anything on the internet that you hope will stay private. Don't even use a smart phone, or social media. You will still get hacked, even if you just use email with a desktop computer. But the consequences will be much less if you are careful.
7
@NYC Totally agree; I unplugged Alexa at home when I found products my wife and I discussed in our living room began magically appearing on my web browser at work, 50 miles away...wonder if anyone else has experienced this?
7
The hope for us "mear mortals" is, well, that we are mear mortals.
I mean, take me, whose going to want to hack a 60 something appliance sales guy with a net worth of zero?
Yet, we all should take security more seriously and as a faithful BlackBerry user, i think there is now space for BlackBerry's return to dominance. A super secure BlackBerry device for high profile and high net worth individuals ... and for us mear mortals who just don't want the world to know the truth about us.
3
As long as we do business with Saudi Arabia for oil and weapons, we will face their negative influence in the world, not in the least state-sponsored radicalization of Sunni Islam. Who's surprised about this?
24
The entire Trump family uses WhatsApp. WE are in big trouble. I also suspect that Trump wanted Bezos hacked just as he disliked
Khashoggi the journalist who was murdered by the Saudis. Perhaps the messages between the Prince and Trump can be located.
43
What is really frightening about this is how close the vicious and bloody ruling Saudis are to the greedy and selfish Trump and Kushner families, that think rule us, or wish they did. I suspect that much of the closeness relates to preserving future opportunities for the Trump Organization to build hotels in Mecca and Medina and for the Kushner family to secure additional! hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from Saudi funds. So a prominent and wealthy American was attacked, with political blackmail being the likely motive--instead of Trump protecting Bezos, my guess is that he would encourage M bin Salman: Trump and the Saudis love each other and both hate and fear the owner of the independent-minded Washington Post. Trump is not there to help Americans, but only his supporters and those foreigners who can benefit him or his family politically and/or financially. This is a sick dangerous moment for our nation.
39
This does not surprise me. While reading about Mr. Bezos's seemingly ignorant use of readily-available phone security tools, I was reminded of the blank looks those distinguished elected officials had on their faces while chatting with Mark Zuckerman.
The level of ignorance seems to expand as one's position in life increases in importance and value.
11
Should it terrify people who don’t have a cell phone?
9
@Larry Thiel - No, because you are smarter and have more discretionary income than most of us. Winner!
1
You know what you'd get if you hacked my phone? Nothing.
"Like other media companies, The Times collects data on its visitors when they read stories like this one." Like other media people, I might add, people like Charlie Warzel see more danger out there than "ordinary people" because they are much higher value targets, and they use much more technology.
Hacking my appliances would also get you nothing, you would mostly be unable to hack them. Not because you aren't good, whoever you are, but because they lack the chips. My internet of things is connected not by AI but by HI (human intelligence), that is to say, by me. I determine who is at the door by looking through it. Because it has to be unlocked by hand.
As for the high-value targets? Not surprised. Remember (Charlie may not but some do) when Chemical Bank got hacked by some school kids in Connecticut? They broke in using the CEO's superuser account. Why? Because he shouldn't have had the account in the first place. That was in the 1970s. Times haven't changed.
11
So the issue is WhatsApp is vulnerable to attack? I'd delete that app immediately.
6
This is one of the more important stories of the year on many levels. My privacy is very important to me. If I have to give up tech and go back to pay phones when my car breaks down and phone books to look up a phone number, or put a stamp on a letter to get my privacy back so be it. I went to a website looking for piano lessons the other day, I looked up a local teacher, but just looked, didn't place any of my info. Two days later there was a business card from the merchant taped to my mail box. What the heck ?! I watch shows on Hulu about the Caribbean and I get ads for Caribbean vacations. I have strict controls on for privacy and they still know everything. This shouldn't have happened to Jeff Bezos as well, he also deserves his privacy...
6
@Missy : Have you found a public phone lately? I haven't. Telephone books are not delivered as they used to be for 'free'. You can still buy stamps, true.
I started looking at the Master Cleanse liquid diet yesterday and about two hours later I got a couple of emails about what I should buy for a liquid diet! I heard that Target knows when you're pregnant even before you do.
Privacy is gone. I just pray all this new technology doesn't create the ease for a new Holocaust of 'others'. Lists of all of us long-time, Never-Trumpers and vocal about it, lists of Muslim-Americans, lists of uppity Black Americans, lists of Mexican-Americans, lists of LGBTQ people. I feel we are headed into the Dark Ages and anything is possible.
3
@Missy & @sophia
This is primarily the problem of cookies created in your system, when you visit a site. You can circumvent it by using an Internet browser (e.g. FireFox) that allows you to suppress cookies as they are created. You may lose the use of some sites that insist on leaving cookies in your system, but you still have access to many useful sites (about 90%).
1
You know who doesnt like Bezos and has a history of enlisting hostile foriegn powers to hack his enemies??? Yeah... that guy. Not hard to imagine a phone call where that arms sale is about to go through but I need MBS to " do us a favor though ".
20
Saudi Arabia is NOT a trusted ally.
19
@A J You mean SHOULD NOT be a trusted ally....
Delighted by the irony.
60
"If the richest man in the world — the man who sells listening devices used in millions of homes and whose servers create the internet’s infrastructure — can be hacked, what hope is there for us mere mortals?"
"If the richest man in the world — the man who sells listening devices used in millions of homes
and then stores the conversation on his servers
and whose servers create the internet’s infrastructure (uh - not by a long shot) — can be hacked, what hope is there for us mere mortals?"
Oh the irony. (and stupidity of those who willingly give away their privacy only to be shocked)
5
Can there be any doubt that MBS long ago hacked Trump's (and Kuchner's) phones? He probably sent them a degrading cartoon featuring Hillary Clinton via Whatsapp that they all too gleefully opened. The personal cell phone of the President of the United States should be forensically analysed. I'm sure Trump will agree to that. Yeah right, dream on.
32
@Polyglot8 The personal cell phones of Trump and his circle have been being forensically analyzed since he came to power. Not just by the US Intelligence system but by curious hackers around the world, state-sponsored or private. It's a bit of overkill though because Trumps blabs anything and everything, on phone or just out loud. They have no shame; how could they have secrets?
1
Maybe I'm not following the Bezos story closely enough but other than embarrassing him, what did the Saudis do with his info? Were they able to use info they stole from him to hack into all of the echo dots, etc. Amazon has so agressively pushed into peoples homes? The moral of the story seems to be that rich egotists think they're immune from mundane problems.
And I really wish the Times would quit telling me to be terrified.
5
@JS The Saudis wanted Bezo to change the editorial policy of the Washington Post....
1
Remember Hillary Clinton's email server? That was a high-profile cyber security story from the recent past.
Since the day I first heard that story, I have wondered why she wasn't assigned a full-time cyber security expert to make sure she did not blunder into compromising her communications. Then, if she wanted to use a separate email server for some reason, her security expert could have seen to it that it was properly secured.
Instead, it seems like the Secretary of State was left on her own to figure out how to secure her communications, in spite of the fact that any number of state actors or other unsavory people would have loved to have compromised it.
By the way, I still wonder whether that email server ever did get compromised. If so, what did the bad guys find out?
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@mlbex
Ironically it was the government servers that got hacked, not Clinton's private one.
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@Marie ; And even more ironically, she could never admit that the reason she used the private server is because she knew the government servers were vulnerable. To admit it would be to expose the State Department to further cyber attacks.
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@Marie
Nope. Wrong. Political parties are private entities to remind about core democracy essences. NSA can and do secure everything within domain of control while private parties IT is quite distinct from voting booths to remind about these factors .
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I appreciate Mr Warzel's concerns, but I think "terrify" is a word that has come to be grossly overused. I don't happen to own a mobile device, but I have trouble imagining anything about one terrifying me, unless I am somehow stuck in one of those B grade slasher flicks.
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I'm a computer security expert, and for some reason I'm not terrified Jeff Bezos had his phone hacked. I'm somewhat terrified that rampant fearmongering, like Mr. Warzel's title, is increasingly being used to motivate action on tractable problems - instead, forcing a response which would be better described as reactive than proactive.
The top three steps non-billionaires can take to protect their security online are simple: 1) Use unique, random passwords for all of your online accounts - at least eight characters, including upper/lowercase alphabet, numbers, and punctuation; keep them in a plain text file with a misleading name, like "letter_to_Grandma8-12-15.txt" and copy-paste from it as needed; 2) Never click on attachments in emails unless you have been notified by the sender in advance; and 3) Never store passwords in written or printed form, especially near your computer (especially, on a Post-It Note on the edge of your screen).
The author's use of fear as clickbait is innocent enough. But from the Iraq War to climate change, fear has been effectively used for nefarious purposes - to force the public to retreat from problems requiring immediate action, instead of meeting them head-on.
Don't be terrified. Be smart.
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@BobMeinetz
Store all your passwords in a single text file? "Smart", indeed.
At least store them in an encrypted file or on an encrypted partition, in case your computer is stolen. Otherwise you'll lose everything.
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@BobMeinetz
Thank you Bob!
@BobMeinetz
How about keeping your passwords in a tiny file box under your bed?
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We hear a lot about personal responsibility when it comes to information security, and that is no doubt where the biggest responsibility lies – but there is a lot the companies that sell the products and services that create the data risk could be doing, that they are not. Banks have gotten wiser, for instance, in recognizing fraudulent activity and automatically responding – and yet, the Times' report claimed Bezos' phone started suddenly sending out 29,000 percent more data, and the iPhone software wasn't designed to notice sudden, unexpected changes in behavior in the same way. To say nothing of the fact that the hack exploited holes in both WhatsApp and iOS.
Similarly, we hear about the need for creating better passwords, not reusing them and using two-factor authentication, but we seem to accept the corporate gaffes that lead to data breaches as the cost of doing business. Should we all get better at protecting our data? Certainly. Should we also hold the companies that are supposed to be protecting our data accountable, expect them to do their jobs, and start making it painful for them when they allow millions of passwords to be dumped onto the dark web? I would say yes.
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The internet, smart phones etc are all devices that deliver commercial opportunities to bamboozle the general population. If you don't want to be taken to the cleaners keep your public profile tiny - if you feel the need for attention from multiple sources you should be prepared to lose your privacy. It's really simple.
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@Mary Pat Of course! In general, the convenience and other positive-feeling experiences provided by apps and such are bait - extremely tasty, and grownups are free to decide to take a bite, but nobody should be surprised or angry that there's someone on the other end of the line who's trying to land dinner (or, for that matter, that there's s barb on the hook).
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Counterpoint: In the mid 1990s I assumed that eventually someone very rich/powerful/famous would be so compromised by digital theft/security/personal info and THAT big news item would finally cause the passing of USA federal laws about personal digital privacy. It did not happen. While there are some digital privacy laws in the EU, there are virtually none in the USA as of 2020. For some reason, this article writer doesnt mention the lack of laws in the USA regarding violations of personal digital security. It stands out as an odd omission in the article.
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...and yet we have a man running the country using an unsecured phone.
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@Nathan Hansard
It makes me think that maybe he isn't actually running the country.
Or hope that maybe Mike Pence actually is.
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@Nathan Hansard
... because he believes - and he is largely right - that those who hack the phones (the Saudis and the Russians) are on his side, badly wanting him to win the next election.
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@Nathan Hansard @Nathan Hansard What does it matter? The convulsions of his mind are displayed real time on Twitter.
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If Bezos' phone can be hacked, such a powerful plutocrat with the means to prevent it, tell me how the rest os us, simple mortals, can prevent our information from being used and abused at will? Let's stop being naive. For as long as we refuse to live isolated in a cave, incommunicado; instead, remain connected electronically, just assume our private life is utopic, nonexistent, our information being wielded freely... so we remain part of this consumption society, and where our whereabouts are always well known, a beauty when our upcoming dementia makes us forget how to return home.
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People always talk about the tradeoffs of digital technology. Here is how I see it.
This technology was supposed to save us a lot of time. It seems that whatever time you might save is always taken back by endless cliches. You know programs that crash, endless upgrades that mess up everything, devices and computers that just stop working for no apparent reason, etc...All of this usually take an enormous amount of frustrating time to solve.
When a big and important corporation is hacked most of the damage is shifed on to the consumer. The corporation suffers little. Often they slyly blame the consumer. You know the song, you didn't upgrade something , your password was lazy, etc...
I'll stop here but I think you get the idea.
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@Richard Fried
Amen. The computing power in our smartphones is many orders of magnitude greater than that of the Apollo Mission Control or even of the five on-board Space Shuttle computers. The difference being, things we send into space with humans have (minimally) triple-redundant safeguards.
Saying "don't press that button" or "don't open that attachment" is ridiculous: a well-designed system doesn't let you see a button that you shouldn't press. Same with attachments. One hopes that the industry is addressing this issue and is coming up with non-onerous, effective safeguards.
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@Richard Fried And after all that, if there is still any saved time left, you waste it scrolling on Twitter.
1
“The internet has long been thought of as a truly democratic tool, flattening and democratizing the ability to publish and communicate.”
Thought of by whom, besides marketers? It is much more logically seen as a tool of totalitarianism. It centralizes the means of communication & information so they may be weaponized according to the interests of the powerful. We can say or read whatever we want, but interested parties will decide or create which information matters. Fighting this monster by protecting your phone is like fighting climate change by recycling.
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There is an ongoing war between security and convenience. Security experts tell us to use long and complicated passwords, different for every account, changed regularly, and enhanced with dual factor authentication. Sure. But the only way to keep track of all that is to write it on a bunch of post-it notes and paste them on your computer. How secure is that? Password apps are fine but that means there is one uber password whose revelation grants access to all your other passwords. Most of us, I suspect, are willing to trade the risk of a security breach for a little more ease of operation. We might take pains to secure our online banking, but not so much with our login to the NY Times.
18
Rather than a list of passwords keep a list of clues that only you could understand that are the clue to the password
7
@AAC Re: "...the only way to keep track of all that is to write it on a bunch of post-it notes and paste them on your computer" Really??? That's not how I do it and I don't know anyone else that does that. That is a really bad practice. Also, passwords should not be stored literally, but instead symbols and phrases that only you understand should be used. For example, if a password contains the numbers from the house you lived in during elementary school and let's say that house was on 1234 Elm Lane, you wouldn't save the actual numbers 1234, but instead something like "Elmnos". If you have another set of, say, three numbers that are special to you, you might write "MySpecNums". Etc.
Using a password auto-randomizer is generally a good idea but eventually there will be browser hacks regarding that.
1
Sorry, but Bezos' phone being hacked delights me, because it demonstrates so clearly that the richest and most powerful are NOT immune from the realities of life on this planet, from the devastating effects of climate change to the sinister effects of technology to the social chaos that is brewing due to obscene income inequality that dooms millions of our citizens to lives of suffering.
Unfortunately those with the most money and power do not appear to be wise enough or farsighted enough or even simply smart enough to act in the best interests of all human beings, themselves included.
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@Samsara, agree wholeheartedly. Bezos' company sells cloud computing services and spies on those using them and steals their secrets. They build devices with more cameras pointed at the user than at the world. Somehow it just feels right that he got hacked, but no one expects that it will change his behavior, except adding a vendetta against whoever hacked him.
13
We take so much honesty and respect for granted. Not all us peons are worthy of hacking, collecting nude photos and seeing how was at our latest gala,but on the other hand, having our doorbell camera or security cameras on the internet means they are hackable.
Recently we were looking to add a security camera to our driveway, and every store I checked with to find a camera that ONLY connected to our local network and did not rely upon going to some 'service' which we could view on-line was part of an expensive package with wiring required. Simple IP cameras were not to be had.
Is it little wonder than in this age of selling a customer's personal data that all these 'security' systems depend upon the devices connecting to the internet? It is indeed by design, making sure that everyone is hackable, and that there is a way to access the data. Just put that baby cam on line and watch the deranged go looking.
Even the police laud the doorbell cameras as nothing but good. Yes, attacks and thefts have been documented. But I will not install any device that connects to the internet for it's service. Technology is good but the implementation as mandated by those selling the service is worrisome.
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@reid Agree completely. We discarded the idea of cameras, and now are using a device that goes BONG when anyone drives up the driveway. (We have a long driveway.) Oh, and the dogs bark. Neither the BONG machine nor the dogs are wired to anything.
I don't want to publish our doings to the whole world via the internet.
The real difference is not that Bezos can be hacked, it's that he has the power and resources to handle any consequences with little disruption to his life.
He won't be spending hours on the phone with credit agencies, bill collectors, etc.
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@Pat
But he will be plenty embarrassed.
5
@sjs
If so he's got at least $100 billion friends to help him get over it.
4
in addition to the many man hours determining healthcare benefits and fighting the insurance companies resistance to paying them..
The lasting effects of the Trump presidency is its successful effort to dismantle our agencies and institutions. There is no one there anymore doing the good work for the right reasons for America’s future. The people there today have to prove loyalty to Trump and that means a willingness to look the other way as he self deals, corrupt a policy and puts himself first. We have never had a president who doesn’t care about the country completely supported by a party whose only goal is to remain in power and drain the treasury for donors personal gain.
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@Deirdre - Not a Trump fan by any stretch, but the groundwork for this was laid a long time ago. Granted, there could certainly be steps taken to lessen the chances but that could never happen under the current state of disarray.
6
@Deirdre No one has disabled or dismantled our institutions. Trump may whine or criticize those institutions, but they are intact.
The biggest problem we have is that 10 years ago a president couldn't get his legislation passed as he wanted, so he just wrote an executive memo. Readers and the NYTimes delighted, saying the Congress was blocking the president so why should he work with them. Fast forward....
I long for the ancient days of my parents who had the luxury of land lines — sure old spy craft could tap in to those lines. But they could move about autonomously and not worry about passwords, PIN numbers, GPS, cookies, mundane audio recordings of me chatting about the awful taste of kale, third party data collection sweeping up and selling every keystroke I make while searching for the best dog crate online. Big tech needs parenting.
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@Annabelle K. Absolutely! No one could have possibly imagined how this would turn out, although it is amazing how we missed it, knowing that a chance to make money and/or cause someone trouble will never be passed up.
7
Landlines are EASY to tap. And with equipment of just wire clips and headphones.
Creepytech and megacorps in general are proof that adults often need adult supervision!
Not just for their good, but for ours far more.
7
Scary. And the damage of a hack doesn't just magically go away.
A family member was hacked a few years ago and the after effects are still making things difficult in dealing with banks, credit card, etc.
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It is a terrifying world of insecurity and loss of privacy, of personal invasion. And it turns out even the richest and potentially most savvy of us are just as vulnerable as we are. That is not a comforting thought. But things don't have to be this way. If we had a functioning government we could trust (maybe Nov2020!), then that government could work diligently to protect its citizens, the way European governments are trying to do. And there should be stringent penalties, for actors large and small, against violating our privacy -- and that includes the government itself!
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@PT Privacy and espionage are two different things. Yes, our government can do something to protect our privacy from intrusive behavior by the tech world such as location tracking and storing personally identifiable information.
No, our government can't protect us from espionage by nation state actors or determined individuals. Our government spends 10s of billions of dollars a year just trying to protect itself let alone trying to protect 300 million people who are at best apathetic about their own digital security.
5
@C.G. Of course our government should protect us from hacking. They may not be able to eliminate all hacking, but they should be able to limit some of it.
1
@PT You are not safer in the EU, no matter what the EU does. Hackers infiltrate your phone when you walk down the street; skimmers on ATM machines are everywhere.
It's the technology - 'free' and open to any and all who want to use it. The minute you use technology, you've opened the door. Even with encryption and solid passwords that are unique for all accounts. This is because everything on the Internet is there for ever, and hackers want it. The other problem is that hackers, once caught, are never really punished. If there is no serious consequence, there will be no serious solution.
Mr.Warzel- Thank you for the advice, but do I really need to be "terrified". I have plenty of other things to be terrified about.
34
@Fighting Sioux When some goof ball targets your children that are on a baby cam, you will be terrified.
2