Earlier this week, Mat Honan, a senior writer for Wired, watched as his digital identity was taken from him and then systematically deleted by hackers who had cracked into his iCloud account. Nothing was spared. Even his hard drive — full of irreplaceable family photos — was completely erased, all in an effort to gain control of his Twitter profile, @mat.
Surprisingly, his hackers didn't use brute force or guess the password, but rather took advantage of lapses in Apple's and Amazon's security systems to gain access — bringing into question if password-based security mechanisms are strong enough for the era of cloud computing.
ProPublica senior editor Eric Umansky invited Honan on the podcast this week to share his terrifying hacking ordeal. Among the topics they cover: How Honan started chatting with his hacker, and after deciding to write about it all, ended up promising not to prosecute.
You can read Honan's firsthand account of being hacked and having his digital life compromised on Wired, How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking. You can also download all of ProPublica's podcasts on iTunes.