Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[bobmacliberty]

16 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Even crazier we received a phone call this afternoon from TD bank fraud prevention dept asking if we applied for Samsung financing program.     Immediately told them NO!    we do not have any accounts with TD Bank nor are we financing anything with Samsung.      the rep at TD said they had Eric's full name, address, SSN and DOB, the only thing that triggered possible fraud was the ship to address for the samsung products (they didn't expand on what was ordered but hinted towards some appliances).   So we just spent the last hour freezing our credit with all 3 bureaus and found 2 other inquiries made by other lenders were made last week.     On the list to call them next.

No idea where his info leaked from but hopefully the credit freeze will put a stop to it.

and we use a VPN whenever online.

 

Definitely sounds like Eric's info was in a database that's been hacked.  It happens more frequently than you'd think.  There is a good, and legitimate, website to see if any databases that contain your email address have been hacked:

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach

Pwned is a slang word for "owned", which in the cyber space means that a website has been hacked (and is now "owned" by the hacker).  It is safe to enter your email address into this website to see if you've been pwned...you won't get any spam or have any other problems as a result.  Trust me! (some guy on the internet who you've never met 😁).

 

Not much that you can do if your data has been compromised other than what others have already suggested (change your passwords).  The website promotes the use of a password manager software product.  I like the concept of a password manager in theory, where every web site has a unique/random password and the software keeps track of the passwords and feeds them to web sites when needed.  Too many people use the same password in many places and if one place gets hacked, bad guys can use that info to gain access to another site.  I'm still leary though of using completely random and unique passwords that I can't remember.

 

For what it's worth, I use a compromise 3 tier password approach.  Any online accounts/sites that need a password get one of 3 that I maintain.  The top tier is a password that I use only for a small number of financial sites that would hurt me badly if hacked.  The middle tier is for sites that I use regularly and might cause inconvenience if hacked but probably not cause any significant damage.  The bottom tier is everything else.  I also use a "throw away" email address for all bottom tier accounts to help manage email spam.  The top tier accounts should all really have their own, unique password, but I'm too lazy to memorize and maintain that many passwords.  All 3 tiers use hard to guess passwords with a mix of upper/lower case letters, numbers, and symbols and are at least 10 characters long.  I change the top tier password about quarterly (very few sites so relatively easy to do), and the middle tier roughly annually (more sites so more painful to do).  The bottom tier I don't touch.  

 

Sorry for the run on message about passwords.   I used to work in the Cyber Security space.  Do a Google search on tiered passwords if interested.  There are several different password management strategies out there that are better than using one password.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

All 3 tiers use hard to guess passwords with a mix of upper/lower case letters, numbers, and symbols and are at least 10 characters long

The government agency that I also work for has switched to “pass phrases” for passwords.  20 characters long, no requirements to use caps or characters and much easier to remember so you don’t have to write them down and apparently much more secure than the old standard of 8 characters with mixed caps, numbers and characters.

 

although if the hacker knew you were a member of CC they would 

just try “Iwouldratherbeonacruiseship”

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

 

although if the hacker knew you were a member of CC they would 

just try “Iwouldratherbeonacruiseship”

With the number of mistakes I make on this phone keypad, it would take me all day to get into C.C. with that pass phrase.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

With the number of mistakes I make on this phone keypad, it would take me all day to get into C.C. with that pass phrase.

Is this better

 

Iwouldvrathercbeonavcruiseship

[island lady]

Well, I was hoping it would work out...and it did.  

 

RCI,  pulling their usual "cancel after final payment, so we can hold on to your money as short term no interest loan"....did not work this time.  It was in reverse.  😉 

 

My final payment was due for my Mariner May cruise on the day my RCI Visa statement posted, which I paid that afternoon.  Now, just before the next statement date (of which I would normally pay that amount) I was refunded in full.  Now, bear in mind a 4 night is not due at 90 prior, so I had a little help there with the timing.  I think the under 7 nights are 45?  Not sure, but sounds right. 

 

Yes!!!  RC had the pleasure to float the loan for me on that final payment.  😄 😄 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

think the under 7 nights are 45?  Not sure, but sounds right. 

75 days. 

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

Happy First Day of Spring, everyone!  Today is DD's birthday.  Will cook something yummy for her.

 

[island lady]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

75 days. 

 

LOL...yeah...that makes sense...thanks! 

 

Though I wish RCI had gone to 30 days prior all this time, it would have basically eliminated the "pay, refund, pay, refund, pay refund" circus.  😵  Or at least that would have been good for us, and much more simple...but it would not sit well with the pencil pushers at RCI losing out on those loans.  😉 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, island lady said:

Though I wish RCI had gone to 30 days prior all this time, i

Even 45 would have been nice.  Would have saved me some work.  

[island lady]

3 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Even 45 would have been nice.  Would have saved me some work.  

 

Totally agree.  It has to be frustrating for many.  😞 

[bobmacliberty]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The government agency that I also work for has switched to “pass phrases” for passwords.  20 characters long, no requirements to use caps or characters and much easier to remember so you don’t have to write them down and apparently much more secure than the old standard of 8 characters with mixed caps, numbers and characters.

 

although if the hacker knew you were a member of CC they would 

just try “Iwouldratherbeonacruiseship”

It's a good approach as password length is very important.  An 8 character password with upper and lower case letters has about 200 billion combinations.  That seems like a lot but a powerful computer can brute force through those combinations in a few minutes.  Adding numbers and symbols to the 8 characters increases the number of combinations into the quadrillions.  That will take a lot longer for a brute force crack but is possible.  Extending a password to a 20 character passphrase, even with just lower case letters, makes it almost impossible to crack with today's technology.  When quantum computing becomes a reality though, we'll need new approaches.

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, bobmacliberty said:

It's a good approach as password length is very important.  An 8 character password with upper and lower case letters has about 200 billion combinations.  That seems like a lot but a powerful computer can brute force through those combinations in a few minutes.  Adding numbers and symbols to the 8 characters increases the number of combinations into the quadrillions.  That will take a lot longer for a brute force crack but is possible.  Extending a password to a 20 character passphrase, even with just lower case letters, makes it almost impossible to crack with today's technology.  When quantum computing becomes a reality though, we'll need new approaches.

One of the other factors is that in making passwords complicated it forces most people to start writing them down.  In an office environment that’s not a good thing.  I can’t tell you how many keyboards I’ve flipped over to find passwords taped to the underside.  Make it secure and easy to remember.

[Milwaukee Eight]

16 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Even 45 would have been nice.  Would have saved me some work.  

A lot of work for no $

[Milwaukee Eight]

12 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

One of the other factors is that in making passwords complicated it forces most people to start writing them down.  In an office environment that’s not a good thing.  I can’t tell you how many keyboards I’ve flipped over to find passwords taped to the underside.  Make it secure and easy to remember.

Or post it note on monitor 

 

Edited to add...

Although I ended my career in IT as a manager, I was ok with the technology. My company provided education opportunities so I took a lot of MS Certification Training. Dating myself but I was MS Certified in NT and NT 3.5. I was a certified MS System Engineer as well. So, I would get beat up by Corporate most times offices were having an issue with their onsite servers. I would sit and someone’s desk and about 50% of the time there was a post it note or tape with that persons passwords. Crazy. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Milwaukee Eight

[grapau27]

22 minutes ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Happy First Day of Spring, everyone!  Today is DD's birthday.  Will cook something yummy for her.

 

Sending birthday wishes to your daughter.

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Or post it note on monitor 

Lol, yes I’ve even seen that. 

[Tree_skier]

14 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

We only used the 5th wheel, a 21,000lb one

Wow, that is heavy.  Was it a Toy Hauler?  Was that the UVW or your gross?

[Tree_skier]

12 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

That’s long. Our first was a 30’ class A motorhome and after that we bought a 40’ 5th wheel with a Dodge 350 HD dually diesel. It only had 2 slides so with the 4 you have it must really be heavy. We will eventually buy another rv, but it will be a class A. No more 5th wheels for us. I remember when we moved to Key West. The first time we drove down was in the motorhome. Sitting up high and looking out at all the blue water. So beautiful. We parked it for 3 years after moving to KW. We never wanted to go anywhere else. Every weekend we were in the boat. Never took a vacation while we lived there. We were on a permanent one. 🥂😊

 

We're a little different than most folks, for us it isn't a vacation home it is a work home. That being said, dragging my wife all over hell's half acre, I do my best to make every stopping place a destination to remember. We have been blessed to have been able to visit and see so many unique and interesting places. My wife bought a small globe and had the words  "you have to enjoy the journey..."  inscribed on it.  It's a line from a Warren Miller film I loved entitled "Journey" and it is the motto we live our lives by.

 

 

I have a gypsy heart, so for me it is all great.  My wife knew what she was marrying when she said "I do" but neither her nor I knew just how nomadic our lives would eventually become. After a year away from our daughter and family we were only with them for 2 weeks and then off we left again. It'll be 2 months this trip.  I offered her the opportunity to stay back but she decided to come.  She knows there are days that I need her.  She's not only my wife, she's the best friend I could have ever dreamed I'd have.

 

I'm going to be working all day Saturday and Sunday so I tried to make it up to her yesterday afternoon.  We drove out to the desert about a half hour short of Palm Springs and just north of a town called Banning and went for a hike. It had some beautiful scenery.  I'm going to take Monday off too.  I don't know where we'll go or what we'll do but I'm going to "Enjoy the journey" 

 

 

[island lady]

I hear you on the "Gypsy heart".   

 

Bucky is reading to me everyday from his list I printed up over a year ago for him of where we should have been right now, if not for Covid shutdown. 

 

Today would have been "at sea" heading back to Sydney after touring the fiords of the south island of NZ.  Was originally scheduled to board Serenade out of Sydney on February 10th,  staying on all through to Vancouver until May 16th.  Sigh....he does like to torture me. 🥴

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Or post it note on monitor 

 

Edited to add...

Although I ended my career in IT as a manager, I was ok with the technology. My company provided education opportunities so I took a lot of MS Certification Training. Dating myself but I was MS Certified in NT and NT 3.5. I was a certified MS System Engineer as well. So, I would get beat up by Corporate most times offices were having an issue with their onsite servers. I would sit and someone’s desk and about 50% of the time there was a post it note or tape with that persons passwords. Crazy. 

 

I also did all of the MCSE training back in the NT days.  I never got the actual cert though because I was in an Engineering role, not an IT role, and we didn't need the certification.  Things have definitely changed with servers/AD/networks since then.  I kept up while I was working, but it's not the kind of thing I'll stay up to date with now that I'm retired.  Too many other fun things to do/learn.

[Momof3gurlz]

@Tree_skierAre you familiar with the composition called The Station, by Robert Hastings? I think you’d enjoy it.

[bobmacliberty]

15 minutes ago, island lady said:

I hear you on the "Gypsy heart".   

 

Gypsy heart speaks to me also, but only to a certain extent.  I've been watching Gone with the Wynns on YouTube (Crystal's reco, I think??).  We had neighbors in Cincinnati who did something similar for a couple of years.  Sold everything and bought a 40 something foot catamaran in Turkey.  Sailed the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic, and sailed the Caribbean for 2 years with 3 kids under 11 and a dog.  It was an incredible experience for them, especially the kids (who were home schooled by their mother, a former teacher).  The romantic aspect of sailing the world is strong, but the day to day sacrifices are equally strong.  I like my creature comforts.

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Definitely sounds like Eric's info was in a database that's been hacked.  It happens more frequently than you'd think.  There is a good, and legitimate, website to see if any databases that contain your email address have been hacked:

Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach

Pwned is a slang word for "owned", which in the cyber space means that a website has been hacked (and is now "owned" by the hacker).  It is safe to enter your email address into this website to see if you've been pwned...you won't get any spam or have any other problems as a result.  Trust me! (some guy on the internet who you've never met 😁).

 

Not much that you can do if your data has been compromised other than what others have already suggested (change your passwords).  The website promotes the use of a password manager software product.  I like the concept of a password manager in theory, where every web site has a unique/random password and the software keeps track of the passwords and feeds them to web sites when needed.  Too many people use the same password in many places and if one place gets hacked, bad guys can use that info to gain access to another site.  I'm still leary though of using completely random and unique passwords that I can't remember.

 

For what it's worth, I use a compromise 3 tier password approach.  Any online accounts/sites that need a password get one of 3 that I maintain.  The top tier is a password that I use only for a small number of financial sites that would hurt me badly if hacked.  The middle tier is for sites that I use regularly and might cause inconvenience if hacked but probably not cause any significant damage.  The bottom tier is everything else.  I also use a "throw away" email address for all bottom tier accounts to help manage email spam.  The top tier accounts should all really have their own, unique password, but I'm too lazy to memorize and maintain that many passwords.  All 3 tiers use hard to guess passwords with a mix of upper/lower case letters, numbers, and symbols and are at least 10 characters long.  I change the top tier password about quarterly (very few sites so relatively easy to do), and the middle tier roughly annually (more sites so more painful to do).  The bottom tier I don't touch.  

 

Sorry for the run on message about passwords.   I used to work in the Cyber Security space.  Do a Google search on tiered passwords if interested.  There are several different password management strategies out there that are better than using one password.

Thank you for this information.  I did check the link for that pwned site.  All but 1 email were good.  1 email said 1 data beach and that was a gmail address I never use anyway.

Our phones have been set up with a vpn for a couple years.  Our laptop are set with up with 2 step authentication to access wifi then we have passwords of 15 to 20 characters, numbers, symbols that we change every 60 days.  All our banking and investments accounts set up with 2 step authentication too.  

I think our equipment is set up good.  Eric is thinking the hack may have originated on a database elsewhere.  Just too many different agencies with personal information that could have been hacked.   Maybe 6 months from now some company will tell us their records were hacked.  

Now if someone stole my little black book of passwords we would be screwed!

[Sunshine3601]

14 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Gypsy heart speaks to me also, but only to a certain extent.  I've been watching Gone with the Wynns on YouTube (Crystal's reco, I think??).  We had neighbors in Cincinnati who did something similar for a couple of years.  Sold everything and bought a 40 something foot catamaran in Turkey.  Sailed the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic, and sailed the Caribbean for 2 years with 3 kids under 11 and a dog.  It was an incredible experience for them, especially the kids (who were home schooled by their mother, a former teacher).  The romantic aspect of sailing the world is strong, but the day to day sacrifices are equally strong.  I like my creature comforts.

That lifestyle does intrigue me but like you I like my creature comforts and not sure I could do that for more than a couple months.  I'm sure they have amazing stories and photos to share.  I'm sure they have some stories of bad storms and rough seas too!

[mo&fran]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

It's a good approach as password length is very important.  An 8 character password with upper and lower case letters has about 200 billion combinations.  That seems like a lot but a powerful computer can brute force through those combinations in a few minutes.  Adding numbers and symbols to the 8 characters increases the number of combinations into the quadrillions.  That will take a lot longer for a brute force crack but is possible.  Extending a password to a 20 character passphrase, even with just lower case letters, makes it almost impossible to crack with today's technology.  When quantum computing becomes a reality though, we'll need new approaches.

3 strikes and your out is the best protection.