The Week That Was: The struggle to stay secure online
It was a week to remember the man responsible for the password – Fernando Corbato – who is credited with inventing it in the 1960s.
The American computer scientist passed away on July 12 at the age of 93 in his nursing home in Massachusetts, United States, due to diabetes-related complications.
Corbato first used a password system when he invented the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), one of the world’s first operating systems, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As CTSS allowed multiple people to use the system at the same time, a password system was required so each person could keep his or her files private and hidden from others.
Corbato’s work on CTSS also earned him a Turing Award in 1990.
Today, most companies take precautions that go beyond just passwords like two-factor authentication.
If you turn on two factor authentication for Gmail, for instance, it will require you to input a PIN which it will send to your mobile number.
However, even with such measures, hackers continue to break into online accounts.
One of the latest to get hacked is Foodpanda Singapore – an attacker calling himself Osama took control of the food delivery service’s Instagram account.
But he didn’t just stop at that – he used it to insult the company’s customers.
When a customer posted online that she received lewd messages from the company’s Instagram account, it caught the attention of the media.
The company apologised soon after in a statement on Facebook, and advised users not to respond to the account.
Singaporean website, Mothership, reported that the Instagram account, foodpandasg, initially had over 20,000 followers before it was hacked.
It added that the attack was believed to have been carried out by the same person or group that hacked Singapore’s Young Lions Football Club Instagram account.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, professional eSports outfit Team Secret received support from telco Maxis, making it the group’s first local sponsor.
Team Secret is best known for its performance in multiplayer online battle arena videogame Dota 2 (Defense Of The Ancients 2), in which the team is ranked number one in the world.
Maxis announced that it will sponsor Team Secret’s PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG) mobile team.
The team is made up entirely of Malaysians – Kow Jiunn Jie (BiuBiu), 23, Alex Er Yong Fong (Alex), 22, Sau Puey Neo (SinBN), 20, and Jian Sew Kuan (Stewart9k).
The telco added that this is part of its effort to grow the local eSports scene and empower the country’s next generation of world-class gamers.
Team Secret’s PUBG mobile team is currently the only Malaysian team that has qualified for the PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 Spring Global Championship in Berlin, Germany.
Another bunch of Malaysians making waves are from game studio Metronomik, which showed off its maiden title – No Straight Roads – at the pop culture exhibition Japan Expo Paris, as part of its world tour.
The game is set in a city where Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has taken over and all other genres are banned.
Players take on the role of rebel rock musicians – guitarist Mayday and her drummer Duke – to fight the “evil” EDM empire.
In an interview with AFP Relaxnews, studio co-founder and CEO Wan Hazmer Wan Ab Halim said the company wanted to prove that Malaysians can produce original content instead of just accepting outsourcing work from foreign developers.
If anyone can do it, it’s Wan Hazmer as he was the lead game designer for the highly rated Final Fantasy XV. And he even succeeded in including Mamak food in the game. If you are planning to play the title, look out for roti canai, satay and teh tarik when you find yourself in the town of Lestallum.
Source: TheStar