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Opinion : It’s never a quiet affair on the internet

| August 28, 2015

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Well, it seems that a few days ago the hackers struck again bringing chaos to the internet and exposing just how unsafe websites can be.

This time the naughty rascals published data supposedly from an internet site that catered for married people who wanted to cheat on their partner by having an affair.

Over the years my good self has heard of some pretty despicable things brought to us by the internet but really, a site that allows people to cheat on their partners? What a dreadful thing. No doubt the inspiration for such a site came straight from the mind of Lucifer himself.

Naturally those who signed up for the site hoped their information would remain confidential but alas, that appears not to be the case any more.

Well, I say it serves them right. Cheating on your life partner is heinous and those who signed up for the website in question deserve all the humiliation they get.

However it seems from initial reports that names of innocent people are also included in the list of people published by the hackers. Apparently the website in question allowed users to enter an e-mail address but it was never validated meaning that anyone could use any e-mail address they liked meaning their dastardly deed could be carried out in the name of someone else.

The whole charade just shows how unsafe and insecure the internet is yet people willingly enter their names, addresses and credit card details into websites for all sorts of purposes.

If you pay your money into a bank you expect it to be kept safely and if you entrust your personal details to a website it should be kept safely too.

A high street bank has a defined set of security measures that are inspected regularly and tested to be secure. They also have to meet stringent financial regulations before they can start trading.

However it seems anyone can set up a website without checks as to the security measures in place. Indeed some websites are so lax that e-mail addresses are not even checked to make sure they belong to the person signing up.

Surely websites accepting credit card or personal details should have to meet certain standards too before they can open for business? I think websites containing sensitive information should be regulated, inspected and licensed by a government approved body.

Apart from my trusty blog, which I know ever so many people enjoy readng, my good self will never get involved with the internet.

The huge databases full of personal details that power websites are honey pots attracting hackers after names, addresses, credit card details and the like.

I read an article recently that compared the databases of user details powering modern websites to asbestos, which incidental also became widely used before the dangers were realised.

The internet has brought us nothing but trouble, we were better off before it came along.

No doubt the foolish will still put their credit card details and addresses into websites then wonder what happened when the information leaks.

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

You can also follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ivor.wycombe or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Ivor_Wycombe.

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