You might think your password protects the confidential information stored on Web sites. But as Twitter executives discovered, that is a dangerous assumption.
The Web was abuzz after it was revealed Wednesday that a hacker had broken into the e-mail account of a Twitter employee and had exposed corporate information. The breach raised red flags for individuals as well as businesses about the passwords used to secure information they store on the Web.
On Web sites containing personal information like e-mail, financial data or documents, there is usually just a user name and password for protection. More individuals are storing information on Web servers, where it is accessible from any online computer through services offered by Google, Amazon and Microsoft; social networks like Facebook; and backup services like Mozy.
But password-protected sites are growing more vulnerable because, to keep up with the growing number of passwords, people use the same simple ones on numerous sites across the Web. In a study last year, Sophos, an Internet security company, found that 40 percent of Internet users use the same password for every Web site they access.
The attack on Twitter highlights the problem. For its internal documents, the company uses the business version of Google Apps, a service that Google offers to individuals free. Google Apps provides e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets and calendars via the Web.
The content is stored on Google’s servers, which can save time and money and allow employees to work together on documents at the same time. But it also means that the security is only as good as the password. A hacker who breaks into one person’s account can access information shared by friends, family members or colleagues, which is what happened at Twitter.
The Twitter breach occurred about a month ago, Twitter said. A hacker calling himself Hacker Croll broke into…