Continuing thoughts on emerging technical problems

Back in 2010, I posted some thoughts on emerging technical problems, mostly dealing with “funny” mail from friends with Yahoo e-mail accounts (see “An Emerging Technical Problem”). I have never found out what exactly was going on with these accounts (nor with mail from friends with Hotmail and/or Gmail accounts either) but it still happens.

From where I sit, it would appear that someone has gained access to the e-mail accounts at the server level and then sent the messages out to e-mail addresses stored on line. Now, one can do one of two things about this.

One is to do nothing and let the problem go away. That may be a reasonable plan. The other is to modify your e-mail address and let all your friends know what has happened and what you have done. The nice thing about free e-mail accounts is that they are free and you can probably create as many as you want. I would strongly encourage you, though, to put your e-mail service on your own computer (using Eudora, Outlook, or Thunderbird) so that your files are behind your firewall.

You do have a firewall in place, don’t you?

Technology can be both a blessing and a curse; it allows us to do things that we could not have done several years ago but it requires that we keep a handle on where we are. It requires things like having an adequate security system on our computers; making sure that our wireless networks are secure and that we don’t put our own personal information in places where others may find it.

I bring this up because of a piece that Randy Willis posted on his own blog – “Site Hacked for the Third Time”. Note that he uses WordPress.org while my blog is on WordPress.com; it is a subtle difference but an important one.

I am not saying that you should avoid technology but know that you can’t do it half-heartedly. If you do, you may find yourself with more problems that you anticipate.