Don't Panic!

No, not a post to celebrate what would have been Douglas Adams 61st birthday yesterday but a little concern over something that happened whilst purchasing and downloading some music on Sunday night.

Having confirmed that I did want to buy the track in question I was then asked for my password, usual routine at which point a message popped up telling me that I was trying to access the system from a computer which hadn't previously been used to buy music. This was wrong as I only ever use the same computer. Anyway I couldn't purchase the track because of a potential 'security threat'. Within seconds an e-mail arrived telling me that either I had tried to buy music from a computer not used etc etc or that somebody else had tried to access my account, if I believed that the latter was the case I should follow the instructions and reset my password.

I duly followed the instructions to change my password, having answered my two security questions correctly which was something of a marvel in itself, and purchased the track.

Now in these uncertain times I am always a bit unsure about what is a genuine security issue and what is phishing or some other scam, in this case though I think I discovered the reason - a small piece of plastic wedged under one of the keys on my keyboard causing me to enter my password incorrectly.

On the subject of security and strange things happening on the Internet I posted a few months ago, when Span was having problems with his page and I had some troll pasting comments on virtually every post, about how, after visiting a particular website, there were problems on my computer which were seemingly caused only after visiting the site in question. Well it turns out I wasn't the only one and that somebody had actually deliberately put malware into a link which when opened on a messageboard thread caused all the chaos. You didn't actually have to click on the link just join in the discussion. Some people!

Oh and as if to increase a sense of paranoia I received an e-mail this morning notifying me that Span had replied to my 'Mother's Day' posting but the reply hasn't appeared on my blog!