Are you a cyber-blabber? Even a post about your daily afternoon foray to the sub sandwich shop could get you in trouble: A burglar reading this knows when to rob your house. But it doesn’t end there. STOP THE MADNESS!
The Giants: Facebook and Twitter
Be careful what you post on ... Views: 857
People who don’t believe they have been brainwashed by the film industry, which repeatedly shows men in a brawl who are still standing after each have received a dozen punches to the head and face.
Sometimes it takes five full minutes to just daze a man, after he’s been hit in the ... Views: 857
Even three men in a house aren’t immune to a home invasion, as was the case in Bedford, Massachusetts recently, says a report at boston.cbslocal.com.
Three men broke into the apartment’s second floor at 2 a.m. and attacked the three male occupants. Three men, especially when one ... Views: 857
IRS
The e-mail (or phone call) says you owe money; if you don’t pay it immediately, you’ll be put in jail or fined.The scammer may know the last four digits of the victim’s Social Security number.
Caller ID will be spoofed to look like the call is from the IRS.
The ... Views: 856
Lesson learned: If you run a fast-food restaurant or any company for that matter, you’d better treat your employees right. After all, they have a legal right to tweet all they want about you.
A Chipotle Mexican Grill in Havertown, PA, had a ban in place: Employees are prohibited from ... Views: 856
It’s hard to keep track of the news of politics these days, and even if you can, how do you know it’s even real? The political landscape has greatly changed since January, and there have been a lot of laws passed that will affect us all, including the repeal of a law that protected ... Views: 856
You have surely heard of hackers, but do you really know how they work? Hackers are well known for being bad guys, though there are certainly good hackers out there too. Here’s a brief guide to help you understand how a hacker can hack:
Directions for Hacking are Easy to Come ... Views: 855
You’ve seen TV commercials and print ads about identity theft, and the “victim” is always an adult. That’s not realistic. The actor-portrayal should be that of a child. Yes, a kid.
Children are 51 times more likely than adults to have their identity stolen, says ... Views: 855
You’ve heard the term “consumer report.” Many times, I’m sure. But do you really know what one is? If you’re nodding your head, would you be able to explain it to a Martian? If not, then you probably do not have a solid understanding of what one is.
But lenders, ... Views: 855
The term, or in this case the word “blackhat” in tech generally refers to a criminal hacker. The opposite of black is white and a “whitehat” is a security professional. These terms originate from the “spaghetti western” movies when the bad guy cowboy wore a ... Views: 854
DoorDash has admitted that it has been the victim of a data breach, which has affected about 4.9 million merchants and people.
In a recent blog post, DoorDash announced that it noticed some odd activity early in September from a third-party service. After looking into it, the company found ... Views: 854
Home safes aren’t just for expensive jewels and wads of $100 bills. They can be for anything you’d be crushed about if it were stolen, lost or burnt in a fire. This could be a birthday card that your child made for you when they were five, or a photo of you and your ... Views: 854
Recently, says a report at wired.com, it’s been unveiled that the obscure Israel-based NSO Group has been selling spyware delivered to smartphones through vulnerabilities in Apple’s iOS operating system.
“Pegasus” spyware can put a surveillance out on nearly everything ... Views: 853
There will always be the person who lives on the Equator to whom you can sell an electric heater. As they say, there is a sucker born every minute.
This is why cyber criminals will always have a field day, like the crook who posed as a tax man who got an elderly couple to send $100,000 to an ... Views: 853
Think about hackers breaking into accounts. If you think they need top-notch computer skills, you would be wrong. These days, instead of requiring skills behind a keyboard, hackers generally rely on strategy…specifically a strategy called social engineering. This means that hackers ... Views: 851
Beware of the B.E.C. scam, says a report at fbi.gov. The hackers target businesses and are good at getting what they want.
The hackers first learn the name of a company’s CEO or other key figure such as the company’s lawyer or a vendor. They then figure out a way to make an ... Views: 850
Once a thief knows your Social Security number…you’re at very high risk for having your identity stolen.
A report on bankrate.com says that the IRS is warning of a cyber attack on its electronic filing PIN application. Thieves infiltrated it with malware in an attempt to claim ... Views: 850
If you are like most of us, you have undoubtedly received an email that has asked you to click on a link. Did you click it? If you did, you are like 99% of internet users because clicking links in normal. But in some situations you may have found that the link took you to a new or maybe spoofed ... Views: 850
If you looked at a photo of a baby boy, could you ever predict that he would grow up to become a sexual predator? Probably not. However, a study shows that men who commit sexual crimes are more likely to have something called an “anxious attachment” to their mothers due to feeling ... Views: 850
There are a number of ways that you can protect yourself online, and one of the things you can do is to start using two-factor authentication.
You probably have seen two-factor authentication even if you aren’t sure what it is. For instance, if you do online banking, your bank might ... Views: 850
Are you a shredder? I hope so. No identity thief on this planet is going to want to attempt to reconstruct cross-shredded documents.
So what, then, should you make a habit of shredding?
All financial documents and information, including financial information you’ve jotted on a ... Views: 849
“I don’t need to lock my doors all the time; this neighborhood is very safe.” And I have some land in the Caribbean I’d like to sell you.
Burglars know that every “safe neighborhood” has a certain percentage of fools who think they’re immune to ... Views: 848
Quest Diagnostics is a US-based company that provides medical testing services, and announced that it used third-party billing collection companies that were hit by a severe data breach. In fact, about 11.9 million Quest customers were affected.
The compromised information could include ... Views: 848
Between half and three quarters of all employees have downloaded personal apps to company tablets and phones, according to surveys. At the same time, people are increasingly using use personal phones for work purposes like email, document-sharing and the list goes on.
What does it all ... Views: 847
Have you ever seen a house and thought…I wish I could afford that? Some people actually try it, but let this story be a lesson learned: if you can’t afford the cost of a house, you probably shouldn’t try to buy it.
Pamela Chandler was arrested and now faces forgery charges ... Views: 847
Every time you have a medical procedure done, including routine checkups and treatment for minor issues, paperwork is generated. You should have copies of every single paper. This is one line of defense against medical identity theft.
Review your paperwork thoroughly for unauthorized or ... Views: 846
September is almost over. This means National Preparedness Month is nearing its end. Nevertheless, you must be prepared all year long to stay safe. National Preparedness Month culminates September 30th with National PrepareAthon Day.
In the boxing ring, if you focus on the knockout ... Views: 846
Most people have heard of storing information in “the cloud,” but do you know what this means, and if it is even safe?
A cloud is basically a network of servers that offer different functions. Some of these servers allow you to store data while others provide various services. The ... Views: 845
Back in August, 2016, Kala Brown and Charles Carver arrived to a 100-acre property in South Carolina for a cleaning job. Charles Carver never made it off the property, and Kala Brown spent more than two months in a metal shipping container, allegedly held captive by Todd Christopher ... Views: 845
Companies have been struggling for years to keep cyber-attacks at bay. Cyberthieves are working faster than ever before to send out their malicious attacks, and it’s become increasingly difficult for companies to keep up.
CNN reports that almost one million malware strains are ... Views: 844
Ever consider the possibility that a person gets a job as a bank teller…for the sole purpose of stealing a patron’s identity?
Do you realize how easy this would be?
No techy hacking skills required.
No gun required.
So we’ve all been instilled with fear of our bank ... Views: 843
Scams targeting older people are probably very under-reported, as seniors don’t want to appear senile. The most vulnerable group is educated men over 55, because, quite frankly, they think they know everything.
Sweepstakes/Lottery
This scam comes in many forms, but the common ... Views: 843
When it comes to tossing into the rubbish your old computer device, out of sight means out of mind, right? Well yeah, maybe to the user. But let’s tack something onto that well-known mantra: Out of site, out of mind, into criminal’s hands.
Your discarded smartphone, laptop or ... Views: 843
Many, including me, have reported for years about all the “work at home” scams. And frankly, there are still plenty out there, unless you know where to look. There has never been more opportunity to legitimately earn a living working at home, and NOT get scammed.
Mothers with ... Views: 842
Are you a small business? Do you know your business’s credit score? The range is zero to 100 for most credit reporting agencies, with at least 75 being desirable if you want to be approved for financing and trade credit (business loan or line of credit), says a report at nav.com and from ... Views: 841
Hackers are making a lot of money thanks to phishing attacks these days, and now they are also focusing on gift card scams. One of the most notorious scam groups, Scarlet Widow, which is out of Nigeria, has been boosting its efforts to scam people with gift cards since 2015. This group generally ... Views: 841
Have a small business? Great. Have two-factor authentication for your accounts? If you’re not sure of the answer to that question, you could be in trouble. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the perfect time to learn more about cyber security. As a small business owner, ... Views: 841
If you reach your hand to a strange dog loose on the street to pet it on top of the head, and it mauls your hand, whose fault is this? One camp would put most of the blame on the dog owner. But most people would blame the victim.
But everyone with half an ounce of sense would agree on one ... Views: 841
Hey YOU, SMB, yeah I’m talking to you. There are a number of things that you can do to not only protect your personal information, but also the information you have in your business:
Hire a professional – It is entirely possible the small business was hacked because they did not ... Views: 840
Did you know that sometimes, the apps you use for your smartphone have access to your personal information and are capable of sharing it? Are you aware that your privacy can be invaded across the network board? That includes Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and more.
And how ... Views: 839
As part of Gemalto’s #ChipAwayAtFraud campaign, I’m being tasked with numerous tasks, some tacky, some essential to living. Gemalto, one of the world’s leaders in digital security, wants a real-world take on the EMV card experience. Which includes the security benefits EMV ... Views: 839
Women should never take a ride from a stranger because it’s dangerous – unless she’s paying the driver???
Wrong, of course. Uber and Lyft drivers provide paid rides to strangers as requested via the Uber and Lyft apps.
As of August 2018 WhosDrivingyou.org tallied the number ... Views: 838
If you are the parent of a child or teen who uses the internet, here are some stats you need to know:
Stats About Teens and the Internet
Teens think that the internet is mostly private
They also think that they can make the best decisions for their life online
They believe they are safe ... Views: 838
Does your wallet contain enough information about you for someone to steal your identity and commit crimes under your name? That’s what happened to Jessamyn Lovell when Erin Hart stole her wallet in 2011.
Hart shoplifted, checked into hotels and rented cars in Lovell’s name. Of all the ... Views: 838
If you have a home, you should be worried about burglars. Here are 44 home security tips that you can use to keep the burglars away:
Keep your doors locked all of the time.
Use a deadbolt on every door.
Don’t leave ladders outside.
Teach young kids NOT to answer the door.
Make ... Views: 835
Ever wonder how a water leak sensor actually works?
Water comes into contact with the sensor. The sensor makes and electrical contact and send a signal.
The sensor transmits a signal to a central station of sorts (kind of like how if extreme heat or a needle comes in contact with your ... Views: 834
If you are like most people, there are several devices in your home that fight for WiFi connections at any given time. This slows your network, and gives you a shoddy experience. Instead, look into upgrading your system immediately and save some cash too.
The Nighthawk is a 2-in-1 cable ... Views: 834
With Cyber Monday, you don’t have to camp outside in the cold overnight so you can be the first person busting through the doors like on Black Friday. But you still may get trampled to a pulpby cyber scammers waiting for their prey.
How can you avoid these predators?
You know that ... Views: 831
As recent data breaches have shown, cyber attacks are particularly threatening to government entities handling sensitive data like Social Security numbers. Unfortunately, state agencies struggle to hire cybersecurity professionals.
The cause of this staffing shortage? There simply ... Views: 831
After receiving medical treatment, many people never look over the paperwork (save for bill total) and just shove it into some folder in a file cabinet. But medical identity theft is very much out there; know the signs:
You’re denied coverage because you allegedly have a condition you ... Views: 831