Leaky pipes

[avram]

Last year, at Worldcon, I attended a panel on security where Jim Macdonald said something along the lines of “No matter how secure the pipe is, it leaks at both ends.” The current Frienditto matter illustrates this perfectly. You might trust LJ’s password security, and you might trust your friends not to blab the contents of your friends-locked posts, but if somebody tricks one of them into surrendering his password, that’s it for your security. There’s a reason people say to treat your password like a toothbrush (don’t share it with anyone, get a new one every six months).