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Comment by eik3_de | Hacker News Reader

I saw a news show on ZDF yesterday and they actually recommended using an email provider that has 2 factor auth with "some code on you mobile". I guess no non-geek understood it but I was still shocked. Usually they just say you should have different passwords for different sites.

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Germany is quite good it seems. I don't really understand where it comes from, but the last time I randomly turned on the TV in Berlin, there was an educational program about PGP. At around 20:30, on a standard TV channel, one of the first ones on the list at the hotel, so it wasn't something obscure either. It seemed to describe the whole idea of asymmetric encryption too (inferred from the animated presentation).

I was really impressed.

Well, the part of the population that cares about information security is very well informed

But the rest seems to live in a luddite world. If you had watched TV more you would have seen that there are a lot of ads for: web games, PayPal and other websites trying to drag the average consumer into, you know, using the stuff.

Paying with a Debit Card is rare in Berlin, Credit Cards are barely non-existent (but they have some other ways of paying stuff online and on stores)

Security of bank accounts is usually done through a list of one-use code numbers (still, they - and several other countries - have payee initiated money transfers between accounts/banks, something that is rare in US/Canada)

You must have caught a lucky moment. Because of the current incident (passwords stored in plaintext were stolen!), spiegel online[0] wrote an article telling their readers they'd be better off if they had chosen stronger passwords.

> 18 Millionen gestohlene Passwörter und Logins hat die Staatsanwaltschaft Verden entdeckt. Mit ein paar Tricks kann man sich zumindest vor dem Schlimmsten schützen, wenn Datendiebe und Hacker zuschlagen.

translates to:

> 18 million stolen passwords and logins were found by the Staatsanwaltschaft (prosecution) of Verden. With a few tricks [i.e. a strong password] you can protect yourself from the worst when data thiefs and hackers attack.

[0] http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/passwort-emails-und-login...

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