I've always been a big fan of movies. Not really for the plain entertainment they are supposed to provide, the dopamine-triggering scenes, eye-catching CGI or carefully constructed characters. Don't get me wrong, these are a big part of it and we can't set them aside. 

But what I really love about some movies is the world they portray. Sometimes it's very realistic and easy to accept, while other times everything is so far-fetched that you have to watch the movie multiple times just to wrap your head around it. 

I especially like the so-called 'classics' or how I often refer to them: 'the timeless ones'. These are just movies that I still enjoy watching the 3rd or 4th time and in which I often find new meanings, Easter eggs or new connections with my reality. I'm pretty sure that you also find it awesome that a laser device first imagined and shown in a movie from the 60s is now a real or a communication device shown in Star Trek is now permanently in our pockets.

Speaking of which, I was recently re-watching Iain Softley's movie: Hackers. Starring a young Angelina Jolie, alongside Jonny Lee Miller (who you might know from Trainspotting or Elementary), this 90s interpretation of how technology can be used for both good and evil tells the story of a group of hackers who stop the bad guy and save the day.

Very enjoyable in its plot simplicity, but striking in how current the hacking methods, concepts and implications of tech in our lives are, this motion picture always gets me thinking about the importance of keeping myself digitally safe. 

There are multiple hacking methods referenced, from social hacking to DDoS, malware and (only in movies) magically typing your way into the servers of an ultra-secure corporation on a flashy interface.

When the assembled hackers plan to hack the bad guy, Kate (Jolie) and Dade (Miller) go dumpster-diving for employee memos with password; Serial Killer (another hacker) installs a hidden microphone in one of the offices; Nikon (you guessed it, another hacker) poses as a delivery boy wandering the company's cubicles, memorizing employee passwords as they enter them.

Maybe today it’s not that easy to get into a company's offices or people do not write down passwords on paper (thank God for shredders), but the threat is just as real as it was 15 years ago. Especially when it comes to customer data, financial information or any type of digital footprint that is considered confidential - with which most of us work each and every day.

At Oracle, we take security very seriously. Oracle B2C Service is no exception to that. 

You can read more about it here: Securing Oracle B2C Service.

What we cannot directly protect you against is social hacking.

According to Wikipedia, Social hacking describes the act of attempting to manipulate outcomes of social behavior through orchestrated actions. Although the practice involves exercising control over human behavior rather than computers, the term "social hacking" is also used in reference to online behavior and increasingly, social media activity.

Depending on your role and how you use OSvC, there are multiple accounts you would have to keep safe.

I cannot stress enough how important setting strong passwords and not sharing your accounts details is. I know that these days we have more passwords than we can remember, but their proper management is one of the best ways of keeping your data from falling into the hands of ill-intentioned individuals.

One practice, although tedious at times, would be to periodically reset them. Below, I have put together a list of OSvC accounts you might use (and how to change their password) – a cheat sheet of sorts.  

• OSvC Contact Record: used to log into our Support Pages (cx.rightnow.com), the password can be reset from the Profile Page. You can also use the ‘forgot password’ option in the login form. 
• Staff Account: used to access the CX desktop console/BUI of your site/instance, the password of this account can be reset by an administrator of your site. 
• Oracle Cloud Portal – Configuration Assistant: user to access cloud.oracle.com and administer OSvC using the Configuration Assistant self-service tools – you will need to contact our support team to reset it.

In the end, we are all rooting for the good guy and looking for a whitehat hacker to step out of the shadows and protect us. Maybe this time we can be our own hero in this movie. 

Be safe.

Andrei Soimareanu
OSvC Support Technical Lead