I was *not* outed and compromised by JWN!!

by blindnomore 223 Replies latest members private

• 

  Angharad

  About a year ago when I was going through the hard parts of my story a certain JWnet user decided to mention my city and even some of my hobbies in a negative comment about me, with the express prupose of seeing if it would get me outed. This junk can and does happen. He knew who I was, but despote my efforts to reach out to him through PMs he never saw fit to indentify himself to me.

  Did you PM a moderator and ask for the information to be removed?

  The difference here is that if someone were to post something exposing another member here, we would remove it when we were alerted to it - we would not dig our heels in for 3 weeks and say prove to me harm was done, that poster is just over enthusiastic
• 

  Tylinbrando

  So, it has to be said, through contacts that post here on JWN, it is possible that your identity and private information could be hacked if the necessary precautions are not made by you.

  Yeah I think we all need more lessons on internet security and personal safety measures. There is not one Internet arena that is not susceptible to hacking, breach of security, identity exposure.
• 

  rocketman

  I was very nearly outed here once. A few years ago, I uploaded a picture file. It contained my name, registered on my computer. I didn't realize it. But rather than PM me, a member went and POSTED the info from the file which contained my name.

  But I didn't blame the board for that, I blamed the member who acted so stupidly.
• 

  jgnat

  JWN has never been hacked or breached security. If someone's identity was exposed it was what posters themselves revealed here.

  The royal difference with Facebook is that members (typically) start with their real identity. Family members and friends are privy also to their activities.
• 

  GromitSK

  What personal information is "hackable" on here? As far as I can recall I don't think this site even has my email address. Not that I give a shit, for the avoidance of doubt I am long gone and have no connections with WTS.
• 

  Angharad

  "This topic is about how blindnomore feels she was outed on JWnet."

  No she was outed through email content, not ON Jwnet. Ths was due to HER giving out her email address to someone, which was subsequently hacked. The identity exposure came from the information in the emails not JWN - Simon did not give out the email address, SHE made the choice to do that herself.
• 

  Tylinbrando

  I think it is safe to say MANY people have joined this forum not realizing initially that their identities would be sought by various entities.
• 

  GromitSK

  That isn't a fault of JWN though is it? (Not suggesting you're saying it is btw)
• 

  Simon

  I should add that as well as PM'ing me if you have any concerns over security on the site you can also email me (simon@jehovahs-witness.com) which is more direct.

  I won't answer questions about security because I don't think divulging anything is a good idea but if you want to highlight any issue then I'm all ears because I do take it seriously and want to get things right.

  Also, in one of the topics the original poster linked to I mentioned setting up 2-Factor authentication for your email which I think is worth repeating:

  This is super important not just for JWN but for life in general - your email address is typically the gateway to all your online accounts and gives you access to forums, facebook, banks, you name it. You need to protect it. 2-Factor authentication is not just "something you know" (your password) it's also "something you have" (your phone) so to access your account people would need to have both. Even if someone has your password, they cannot sign in and access your account.

  It goes without saying though that strong passwords and other basic measures should still be used, many times people say their account has been "hacked" when the honest explanation is that it's been 'accessed' because it's wide open with a weak password.

  Also, be VERY careful when people you don't know setup new sites and ask you to register. I know that sounds like I'm afraid of competition, I'm not. But what a lot of people do is use the same password as they do for their email which is basically handing whoever runs that site the keys.

  One thing that I'm adding to the new JWN site is the ability to sign in with existing 3rd party credentials such as Gmail, Facebook* and the like. So, you won't need to set a password on this site, instead we'll trust Google to tell us that they trust you are who they say you are (and so your access to here can then be protected by their 2-factor security etc...).

  * I should add for facebook, this means you sign in with your facebook credentials but your facebook identity will not be shown. Facebook just authenticates / approves you.
• 

  Tylinbrando

  No it is not the fault of JWN. It is the inexperience and naivete of the individual user. However, blame is an easy thing to cast out as we have seen the past 3 weeks.