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What a disgrace: A private investigator, Eric Saldarriaga, 41, got nailed for hacking into peoples’ e-mails. He may get six months in the can. Is six months reasonable for this, though?
A recent online New York Times article quotes a prosecutor who points out that hackers could be ... Views: 1013
Bad guys hacked bad guys. Hmmm, whose side should we take?
Ashleymadison.com got hacked. This site helps and suggests married people cheat. The hack threatens millions of users, potentially revealing their credit card information, addresses, real names, pictures and content of their chat ... Views: 1012
Let’s face it In today's digital world our work, personal life, and finances all have begun to gravitate towards the world of the internet, mobile computing, and electronic media. But, this widespread situation makes us prone to more vulnerabilities and risks than ever to malicious attacks, ... Views: 1012
Worried about your teen causing a car accident from drinking too much? How about from being distracted too much? According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, distracted driving accounted for 58 percent of medium to severe wrecks involving teenagers, based on analysis of about 1,700 ... Views: 1011
That’s a horrible question to ask. There is a very alarming report on nbcsandiego.com, about a dad who regularly checked on his kids in the middle of the night, and one night at 2 a.m., upon checking his 12-year-old daughter’s room, saw that she was gone. The window was open.
He ... Views: 1011
Zeus is no longer a god of malware; he’s been taken down by law enforcement agencies spanning six European nations. Five people were recently arrested—believed to have infected tens of thousands of computers across the globe. There have been 60 total arrests pertaining to this ... Views: 1011
Identity theft is a term that means different things to different people. What one person calls identity theft is often different from another person's definition of the word. The meaning of the word "idiot," for instance, is different from a person who uses this term to describe someone else. ... Views: 1010
If the person you are sending an e-mail to pretty much instantaneously receives it, how on earth can you unsend or cancel it? Well, you have several options.
Criptext
This is a browser plug-in that works for Chrome and Safari.
Your message including attachments will be encrypted.
You ... Views: 1009
Crimes against women are often “crimes of opportunity”. The predator doesn’t care if the opportunity presents itself in a major bustling city or in a tiny town with a population of only 400. If he sees prey and nobody else is around, he’ll strike—big town, medium town or small ... Views: 1009
Why are so many burglaries hounding the town of Los Altos in California? There were 79 reported in 2013, but 118 for 2014. This past January and February there were 36. At that rate, by Christmas 2015, it’s unthinkable what the total number of burglaries will be.
In a report on ... Views: 1008
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: 1007
Identity thieves are after children’s Social Security numbers. With this number, a thief can do so many things like open a credit card account and rent an apartment. Kids’ SSNs have great appeal to crooks because:
A child’s record is usually very clean.
This means fertile ... Views: 1007
Who’d ever think those silly little yellow circular faces and other such cyber symbols would become such a worldwide smash? I’m talking about emoticons, also known as emojis. Five years ago Apple put an emoji keyboard on its mobile devices. Six billion of these doggone things are ... Views: 1006
Scamerama is here to stay! Scams are as old as time, and evolve as inventions and technology evolve. Top scams, according to a report on FraudAvengers.com, are as follows:
Scammer “accidentally” overpays you for an item you sold online; you cash the crook’s phony check and ... Views: 1006
Have you been thinking that it’s time to make the drastic choice to remove yourself from social media? Most of us were quick to join the social media bandwagon, but these days, you might have worries about privacy. Though it’s possible to delete yourself from social media, the ... Views: 1005
Of all the weird things that can happen to your iOS device, the latest is a relatively benign situation in which a string of text is sent to the phone…and it causes the phone to crash.
The phone will reboot if the particular nonsensical text string is received while the phone is locked.
Data ... Views: 1004
It’s one thing to bust into your kid’s diary and read it, but if your kids want the privilege of engaging in the cyber world, they need to understand that parents are justified in “spying” on them. Or are they? Depends on whom you ask and how far they go at “spying” on their kids.
Frankly ... Views: 1004
Cybersecurity professionals are always in demand[i]. Threats to intellectual property and sensitive data constantly evolve with technology, which means a security professional’s job is never done. There’s always another security problem to solve.
Consider the recent proliferation ... Views: 1004
#1. Keep everything up to date. You know those annoying popups telling you updates are available? Do you ever click out of them? Don’t. Always update at the time these appear.
#2. Two-step verification. Two-step verification or authentication should be set up for all your accounts that ... Views: 1003
As much as you try, the unfortunate truth is that hackers are going to try to attack and access your WordPress website or blog, whether you like it or not. So, it is up to you to make sure you make the hacker’s job as difficult as possible. Here are some tips:
1. Use Plugins
One way to ... Views: 1003
You’ve probably heard of the gofundme.com site, where all sorts of stories are posted of people seeking donations. Some are tragic, others are trite. You may be touched by a particular story, perhaps one in which an entire family is killed in a house fire.
You click the “Donate ... Views: 1003
There are many reasons someone might right-click on your image and “Save image as…”
Porn, Sex and Dating Sites
A woman might steal your blog headshot and use it for her dating site profile.
A perv might take the picture of your child off your Facebook page and put it on ... Views: 1003
To help keep your home and property safe from crime, the New Castle County Police Department provides the following guidelines:
Sounds like a no-brainer, but so many people do otherwise: Keep your doors locked at all times. People will actually go to sleep with the front door ... Views: 1003
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: 1003
Is it easier for crooks to prey on senior citizens, or is it that most targets are the seniors?
Well, one thing’s for sure: A disproportionate percentage of identity theft complaints come from people 50-plus (though I’m sure some readers would hardly consider 50-somethings to be ... Views: 1002
Talk about getting taken to the cleaners: Imagine you spot a great summer rental property advertised online. Looks wonderful. The deal sounds too good to be true, but the owner tells you (via e-mail or even phone) that the fee is correct. You apply for the rent and send in the required upfront ... Views: 1000
Do we really get wiser with old age, or just more vulnerable to all the scammers out there? Here are the top scams directed towards senior citizens.
IRS
The phone rings; it’s from the IRS, claiming you owe money.
Caller ID says IRS (spoof technology).
Caller says if you don’t ... Views: 1000
National Preparedness Month is happening right now. It’s the perfect time to take action for you and your community. It’s all about making plans to remain safe, and when disasters do strike, to keep communications going. September 30th is the culmination of NPM, with the National ... Views: 999
Gone are the days of the fat wallet bursting at the seems, since smartphones can now contain most anything that a wallet does—except the driver‘s license. But don‘t write that possibility off just yet.
Forbes.com reports on a story from the Des Moines Register that the Iowa ... Views: 998
If you haven’t yet heard, Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, has been hacked. What does this mean for you? It means that your Social Security number, and possibly even your driver’s license information, could be in the hands of hackers. Some are ... Views: 998
WARNING: Removing this video surveillance camera to kill evidence of your robbery will do you chickenfeed because the video of you is being stored in the cloud!
Today’s security systems are so much more evolved than they were 20 years ago, even 10 years ago.
We’ve all heard of ... Views: 998
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: 996
Sixty different materials go into the printing of a U.S. passport. That little booklet of a thing contains up to 30 pieces of security—and you can’t see most of them. And good luck trying to get details on these security features.
The author of an article on gizmodo.com points out ... Views: 994
At least one woman is happy that her driver drove like a drunk. That’s because his erratic driving caught the attention of troopers who pulled him over. They then heard a woman calling for help—from the backseat. She was bound and gagged with a bag over her head.
The 41-year-old ... Views: 993
How to save money by using a VPN: the things you have never heard about
"Big Brother is watching you" is not just a motto from the Orwell's book but an everyday reality. Nowadays even a teenager knows that our online activity is far from being private. What sites we visit, what people we talk ... Views: 993
Don’t let your business get caught on a spear phisher’s hook.
Like regular phishing, spear phishing involves sending legitimate-looking but fraudulent emails asking users to provide sensitive information and/or initiate wire transfers. However, while regular phishing emails are sent out en ... Views: 993
Just when you think it was safe to believe your Social Security number can’t get stolen…news breaks of the Anthem data breach. Over 80,000,000 patient records were compromised, including SSNs and home addresses. Like a meteor striking the earth, a disastrous ripple effect is ... Views: 993
If you are like most of us, you probably have a password, antivirus program, and a firewall for your home computer to protect it from hackers. Are you doing the same thing for your phone?
From 2015 to 2016 malware infections on smartphones swelled by 96%, and about 71% of the smartphones out ... Views: 992
Believe it or not, you just can’t shred too much. If you aren’t destroying your sensitive data, my best advice is for you to start now. There are people out there who make a living diving into dumpsters in search of credit card info, bank account number, mortgage statements, and ... Views: 992
Though it would be nice to think that you can fix something if you make a mistake, there are some where there is just no going back. And in some cases, these mistakes can be tragic. Here are some of the biggest mistakes that people make with their home security:
Leaving Doors Unlocked ... Views: 991
Fake news is a problem that is taking the internet by storm, and it ran rampant during the 2016 Presidential Election. In fact, many believe that fake news stories had a strong impact on the outcome of the election. In a survey following the election by the Pew Research Center, a whopping 64 ... Views: 991
Let’s cut to the chase:
Regularly back up the phone’s data! If this is done every day, you won’t have to worry much about losing important information if something happens to the phone—such as a ransomware attack.
Keep the phone’s software and applications ... Views: 990
Companies that want to employ at-home workers for their call centers to save money and reduce the hassles of office space have to look at security considerations. In addition to thorough vetting of the agents and their equipment, organizations also need to ensure that the security is top-notch. ... Views: 990
It’s tough being responsible sometimes. And managing responsibilities for what is precious in your life usually takes a little extra thought. Let’s say you’ve just welcomed a beautiful set of triplets into the world. Lucky you . . . and lots to managed! But, you ... Views: 990
Yes, identity fraud is SO common that someone becomes a victim every two seconds. The 2014 Identity Fraud Study, as reported on javelinstrategy.com, turned up some alarming results.
Though the dollar amount stolen had decreased over the year preceding the study, the number of victims had ... Views: 988
Think about how great this would be: Imagine that all of your company data is safe from hackers. Your hardware is totally safe and secure. You have IT specialists at your disposal at all times and have a constant flow of cash to pay them.
Unfortunately, this is a fantasy for most of us. No ... Views: 987
So, who’s on your holiday gift list this year? That list is a lot longer than you think; consider all the names of hackers that have not yet appeared on it. Scammers will do whatever it takes to get on your holiday gift list! Here’s how to keep these cyber thieves out of your ... Views: 987
One of the arguments against being very virtually social is that nobody is SO important that everyone wants to know, for instance, that this person is going to be at the local sports bar watching the Super Bowl (or almost nobody; sad to say, some celebrities have half the world following ... Views: 987
As you might know, at the end of July, all types of hackers came to Las Vegas to attend Blackhat 2017. During the conference, some pretty scary hacks were exposed, and we can all take this as a lesson on what we are up against in this technology-heavy world. Here are some of the scariest hacks ... Views: 987
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: 986