Chips from the Quarry

Outside the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of California, this event is the largest gathering of Masons in California. 

If you are interested in participating or have questions regarding this event, please click the "Find Out More" button and send us an email.

NOTE: September COVID restrictions will apply. To be admitted, you must show proof of vaccination or timely negative test verification. As a precaution, please bring your mask in case it might be needed. 

Michael Hiltzik, a columnist for the LA Times, wrote an article on July 11 about Fran Finnegan and his company, SEC Info. This company provides quick access to financial documents filed with the SEC. Just before the July 4 weekend, his system was breached by Russian hackers who encrypted all of its data. 

The hackers did not use some newly discovered software flaw to accomplish this. Rather, they used Finnegan’s Yahoo email password which had been exposed eight years ago in a massive breach. He used that same password in managing his website. The lesson here is that an old breach can still bite.

Most of us have Yahoo email accounts. We may not have used the account in years and may have even forgotten that it exists. I did. I searched in my password wallet and saw that at some point I had updated my Yahoo password. However, I could have as easily neglected to do so.

If you have unique, strong passwords on each website, you will only be exposed if cyber criminals successfully hack that website. If you reuse the same password or variants of it, (“Mojave6!”, “Mojave7#”, “Mojave8%”) you are at risk if hackers breach any one of your sites.

If you cannot remember when you last changed your Yahoo password, do it now. If you used it, or a variant elsewhere, change it there as well. Hacking software may attempt millions of variations and so changing the number and symbol is not enough.

Ensure that you have unique, strong passwords on your social media and email accounts as well as your financial and health accounts to avoid having your email hijacked, the information you want to share only with family and close friends exposed, your financials compromised, or your data encrypted with a bill to unlock your system from the cybercriminals to be paid in bitcoin or gift cards.

Folks reuse easy-to-remember passwords to make their lives easier. However, when cybercriminals get hold of them the impact can be severe. Better to be inconvenienced with different, strong passwords along with a password manager to keep track of them all.

Password managers remember your passwords and will typically generate strong ones on request. I have used the free version of LastPass for years. I will continue to use it even though it did not make PC Magazine’s 2021 list of the best free password managers. To read their assessment see: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-free-password-managers

You can read Hiltzik’s article at https://www.pressreader.com/usa/los-angeles-times-sunday/20210711/281560883794400