Many of us post details and photos of naim kit often worth thousands if not tens of thosands of pounds/dollars. I’m left wondering how safe the forum is from unscrupulous hackers aquiring ip addresses and working from there to commit heinous crimes against us.
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It’s a very good question and I would like to see the addition of 2FA to make it a little harder to connect.
But that doesn’t answer the question. I really depends on the implementation and the libraries used to code the site. Some are more secure than others. Also if the site requires to store information on each post in a db that contains such information and how secure that is. The dev/owener can answer that question.
Lastly, effectively it is important to be careful not to post information that can personally identify location/people etc. Very hard to do in principle as over the long term we all leave individual (innocent) traces that when pieced together could add up to something much more useful for those with bad intentions.
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?
I’m informed that the platform is very secure and kept up to date. It complies with GDPR. Any location information in images is stripped. Members are urged not to post personal contact information in their posts (it is removed as a matter of policy if I see it). There’s no private messaging so no chance of getting unwanted solicitation.
Note that two factor authentication is not only available (you’ll need an Authenticator app) but recommended.
Two factor authentication. e.g. password and then the 3rd, 7th and 11th letter of your passphrase.
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The best indicator is surely how often members are the victims of such breaches. I can’t recall an incident but perhaps others can?
In the early days, I remember a small group, who’s brains hadn’t developed since childhood, that laughed at anyone who used a forum alias. Gladly, they disappeared. It’s so easy to find most details of someone on the internet. Particularly easy if their name is not common.
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This is alarmist, surely.
Even if someone could work out where I live (and I defy anyone to do so from what I’ve posted here over the years), they’d never get past the locks on my (two) front doors.
Not at all. Don’t know what job you do, but if you’re a director, self-employed, secretary, investor…… in any business, I could find your personal home address in about 75% of the cases.
Clearly with Graham55, you have nothing to worry about.
Regarding the locks, most door locks are useless and I don’t mean the specialised thief.
Is that the red lacquered door, with the brass letter box at the bottom, and a “no cold callers” sticker in the bottom left window, and the tabby cat peering out of the side window, with a blue plant pot with a key sticking out at the bottom?
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Well security is largely irrelevant. It is smart to act as if every service you use online is insecure.
- Don’t share your full name.
- Don’t share your address.
- Don’t post pics that can be geolocated.
- Use a dedicated junk email address created specifically for registering to sites and not the email you would use to correspond with people otherwise.
Since you cannot prove any site is actually secure or not very easily, assume the worst and you’ll sleep easy.
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That doesn’t quite match how it was when I left it, although I could have had an unsolicited paint job. The moggie is definitely an interloper, though.
2FA doesn’t help stop people getting the information mentioned by the OP because it’s a public forum. So while members using 2FA would stop anyone posting as if they were that member, the whole world can read the forum without registering. And someone can register but rarely or never post and just lurk if their purpose is just to gather information for nefarious purposes.
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Nowadays it’s perfectly possible to do a reverse image search which identifies similar photos or aspects of photos on other sites. The ability to identify location is often staggering.
Similarly we all give away far more personal information than we think we do almost casually. Images of our kit and the room it’s in. Images of what we’re listening to. Images of our gardens, our bicycles. Add in that we identify ourselves geographically to some extent by referencing our dealers. We talk about our trips out and holidays and much much more.
That said, I’ve never heard of a member having an issue and doubt that I will. The cost to Naim, or indeed any other manufacturer, of such a breach would be significant in terms of reputational damage.
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not to mention watches, wines, wine dealers etc… unlike other websites where security may be uncertain, on this one we actively promote the fact we’ve got hugely expensive Naim systems ready for the picking!
Only as strong as the door.
…we mustn’t forget the basics either - went down to get a glass of water the other night and decided to check the door leading to the garden at around 4am - unlocked.
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As RD point out above any uploaded images are stripped of GPS location which most modern smartphones and many cameras embed these days. This is possibly the most important thing.
If you are concerned clearly don’t post images of your system or list items in your profile, though unless you also add fairly specific personal/location info in your profile or posts I’d imagine any nefarious people looking at the forum would struggle to see the wood for the trees.
The one benefit of a lot of Naim kit is that it 's darned heavy and unlikely to be something easily sold on at the pub by a local thief.
When we were burgled a long time ago, none of the hi-fi went but a bag full of expensive DSLR gear I’d stupidly left downstairs and small desirable electronic gadgets/portable computer peripherals were easy pickings. They took loads of CDs/DVDs but I doubt they’d even bother with those these days let alone LPs.
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From a risk:reward perspective, online fraud and other cybercrime is the go to criminality now. Very high value burglaries do still occur but not in the numbers they once did.
You are more at risk by using free wifi in cafes and airports to be honest.
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Also, I cant see a thief running down the street with a NAP250 and Supercap under his arms