Carbon Monoxide Home Safety

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CO Alarms do save Lives

7HWhat you can’t see or smell can kill you. Many CO deaths could have been prevented with an alarm.

How is CO dangerous?

CO gas robs your blood of oxygen, slowly (at lower levels) or quickly (at high levels), choking off your air supply.

  • A low-level leak can leave you feeling weak, dizzy, nauseated, with a headache and other aches: a flu-like feeling.
  • A higher-level leak will put you to sleep fast and you won’t wake up.
  • CO gas mainly originates from heating equipment, but can also leak from gas stoves, hot water heaters, fireplaces, gas dryers, barbecue grills, lawn mowers, snow blowers, generators inside the garage (the door doesn’t even have to be shut for a leak to be dangerous), and of course, cars.

CO Alarm Management

  • Before buying, make sure the alarm has the approval label of an independent testing company (e.g., Underwriter’s Laboratory).
  • Alarms should be placed on all levels of your house, including basements and attics.
  • Install the alarm within 10 feet of doors to bedrooms.
  • In plug-in models, the battery life may get shortened from a prolonged power outage; you may need to replace it often. When the power is restored, replace it. A power outage will not affect a battery-only alarm.
  • Depending on make and model, get a new alarm every five to seven years.

Don’t put off purchasing CO alarms if your home lacks them. They’re easy to install, small and inconspicuous, yet can save your family’s life. And in many states, it’s the law.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

10 Things Burglars Don’t Want you to Know

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Burglars would rather keep their dirty little secrets to themselves. But today, Schlage, makers of the grade one Touchscreen Deadbolt, and I are revealing what they don’t want you to know.
3B

  1. Burglars have jobs too. Your burglar was already in your house. He was there recently to repair the furnace, deliver the new flat screen TV or pick up old furniture you wanted to donate.
  2. Attractive ornaments or pricey “kids’ things” outside your home can indicate to a potential intruder that your house is full of valuables.
  3. Don’t let a service person use your bathroom. This may seem rude, but burglars have been known to visit the john so they could unlock or disable its window for future entrance into your house.
  4. Make sure your house alarm’s control panel is not visible through glass to someone loitering outside.
  5. Always have your newspaper and mail delivery put on hold when you’re away. And if you notice a flyer on your doorknob, immediately remove it so that the burglar who put it there doesn’t think you’re on vacation.
  6. Would you ever exit your house wearing only socks because you forgot to put your shoes on? Absolutely never! So make it a point to also never forget to lock your door after leaving.
  7. If someone is at your door, and you’re not expecting anyone, it’s not a crime to ignore them. That person on the other side may be a burglar casing your house (“Do you know where Clover Street is?”) and your demeanor to see if you’re easy prey.
  8. Hot spots for a burglar’s entrance include the window above the kitchen sink and the upper level windows. Have these spots set with alarms, and install motion detectors upstairs.
  9. Even a half-witted burglar knows to check medicine bottles for those diamond earrings, and scour through the sock and underwear drawer for more valuables. But he just might not bother going into the children’s bedrooms.
  10. Even though the sun’s beginning to set, you insist on keeping your blinds up or curtains open to milk what little daylight is left to lighten up the room. Meanwhile, a savvy burglar is strolling about the neighborhood, catching glimpses through windows that he can see through because it’s dusk (let alone night time). This way he can pick easy looking targets or ones with visible valuables.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

Schlage Touchscreen Deadbolts are Smart!

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Deadbolt technology just gets smarter and smarter. There are now electronic deadbolts that can be manipulated with an integrated keypad, a smartphone or opened with a key. After all, relying on the traditional key can be a nuisance, for obvious reasons.

1LThe Camelot Style deadbolt from Schlage offers the latest technology.

  • The device can be registered with multiple z-wave enabled hubs including, Nexia Home Intelligence and Staples Connect and uses batteries.
  • Keyless entry codes are pre-programmed but can be changed.
  • Up to 30 codes can be stored and can be programmed to grant access on designated days and times, if you use the lock in tandem with an automation system .
  • An alarm can be set to sound if the lock is manipulated by an unwanted person.
  • Never being locked out again due to the device’s three methods of authentication (code, app and key).
  • The auto-lock feature that engages after 30 seconds, based on a timer.

Some Details

Do your homework before installing the device so the installation process goes smoothly. The average handy individual can install this lock and others may wish to use a lock smith. The pre-existing deadbolt slot should match up

By pressing the Schlage logo, you secure the deadbolt from outside. To unlock the deadbolt, it’s faster to enter the keypad code than to insert and turn a standard key. Lastly, the auto-lock feature will take up to 30 seconds to kick in once the door is shut.

And every bit of set up is all worth it

Once the device is installed, you’ll be happy you bought this high tech lock. You don’t have to buy a z-wave enabled system to use it, but more features are enabled when you do connect your deadbolt. The device practically settles anxiety about lost keys and will give you peace of mind.

Robert Siciliano home security expert to Schlage discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

How do I protect Myself engaged in the Internet of Things?

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The Internet of Things—IoT—is a formal term referring to distinctly identifiable objects (cars, kitchen appliances, smartphones) and their cyber-representations on the Internet.

3DBy 2020, it’s projected by at least one expert that there will be over 30 billion “things” represented virtually. All of this gives rise to increased security risk that seems almost paranormal.

The virtual world seems to be closing in on the physical world. Gee, sensors that track food purchases, for instance, can reveal if someone’s on a diet or is of a particular religion.

The IoT is expected to evolve in the following ways:

  1. Making dumb objects smart. Imagine house keys that don’t need to be taken out of one’s purse or pocket to open a door, or a gadget that you can scan dairy products in your refrigerator for expiration dates, and the sensor will then remind you of these dates.

    Go one step further: A mouse that can click links—not controlled by hand movements, but by thought. Well, that may be a century off, but you get the idea.

  2. “Things” that make changes by sensing changes in the environment. Imagine a garage door that opens because a sensor in it “knows” that the homeowner is approaching from 100 feet away.

    These “things” will react according to data received about what those things are virtually connected to. But if this technology is centralized, imagine what a hacker can do: The whole town’s garage doors won’t open. A national centralization will even be worse.

  3. Devices with independent autonomy. This sounds fantastic: Technology won’t require an intermediary device (like a smartphone) to take action when it “senses” a change in the environment.

    Imagine a “thing” sensing a change in your body (via sensory technology and apps) and then responding by dispensing medication. But this also sounds frightening: Imagine what a malicious hacker can do with this technology.

Security Issues

  • Ownership of data. Passing the buck for security responsibility is a major issue. Who’s responsible if a device gets hacked? The maker of the device? The owner? The hacker? Who should have secured it? This type of responsibility needs to be defined.
  • Transfer of information. Vulnerabilities exist when data is enroute. Data may sit stored in a local data collation hub where it awaits uploading, but meantime can be stolen.
  • Sensitivity of data. Varying tiers of security are needed to correspond to varying kinds of data being transferred. For example, a data stream about the amount of humidity in a greenhouse doesn’t need security, while medical record information definitely does.
  • Death by hacker. With increasing advances in the realm of IoT, hacking can become a life-and-death matter, not just the nuisance of some baby monitor getting hacked and the hacker spewing out lewd comments for mommy to hear. For instance, it’s only a matter of time before a doctor, hundreds of miles away, remotely controls a patient’s implanted heart arrhythmia controller. What if a hacker gains access and demands ransom or else?
  • IT infrastructure. Cloud security concerns will only deepen as the IoT proliferates. Data access, ID and authentication, legislative boundary constraints and other issues must be considered. And should data be stored publically or privately, is another big question to answer.
  • Unprotected wireless. Making sure any wireless connections are protected by a VPN is essential. Hotspot Shield VPN is a great option and it’s free.

At this point, nobody really knows how all of this will pan out. Regulation and legislation will be very challenging. The IoT may very well leave legislation for data protection in the dust.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Cloud Computing 101

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A public cloud service can bring on five risks to a business. Here they are, and their solutions.

3DThe three A’s: authentication, authorization, access control. Here are some questions to ponder about a cloud service:

  • How often does it clean up dormant accounts?
  • What kind of authentication is necessary for a privileged user?
  • Who can access or even see your data?
  • Where is it physically stored?
  • Does your organization share a common namespace with the service (something that greatly increases risks)?
  • Are private keys shared among tenants if a data encryption is used?
  • Ask your cloud vendor these questions. Get answers.

Multiple tenants

There’s always that concern of data inadvertently slipping out to tenants who share the cloud service with you. One little error can expose your data and set you up even for identity theft. Breaches that can occur include: accessing data from other tenants from supposedly new storage space; and peering into other tenants’ IP address and memory space.

Virtual exploits

There are four chief kinds of virtual exploit risks: 1) server host only, 2) host to guest, 3) guest to host, and 4) guest to guest. Many cloud customers are in the dark about virtual exploits and are clueless about the vendor’s virtualization tools. Ask the vendor:

  • What virtualization products do you have running?
  • What’s the version currently?
  • Who is patching the virtualization host?
  • How often?
  • Who’s able to log into any virtualization host and guest?

Ownership

Here’s a surprise: Quite a few cloud vendors state in their contracts that the customer’s data belongs to the vendor, not the customer. Vendors like ownership because they get to have more legal protection should a mishap occur. They can also do other things with the data that can bring more profit.

  • Find out if the contract contains language referring to vendor ownership of data.
  • Learn what the cloud provider can do with it if indeed, they get ownership.

Fallibility

Even the biggest and best cloud services can become dismantled due to service interruptions, attacks or some miscellaneous issue with the vendor.

Funny, because a cloud provider typically insists it has superior, super-protected data backups in place. Be aware that even when a provider claims a guarantee for data backup, data can indeed get lost, even permanently.

  • Back up your data!
  • Require some language in the contract that entitles you to damages should your data become permanently lost.

Cloud services haven’t been around long enough for analysts to have come up with a predictable, clear model of all the possible risks, how likely they are, likeliness of security failures and how much, if at all, risks will negatively impact customers. And that’s just in general. Figuring this out for a particular vendor is even more vexing.

  • There are many unknowns, but at least you can work on minimizing them.
  • Obtain a copy of the vendor’s last relevant, successful audit report.
  • Seek out information from the vendor about prior incidents of tenant data problems.
  • Ask the vendor about its policy of reporting data compromises to customers.
  • Grind out just what the provider’s responsibility really is.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert an is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video. Disclosures.

5 Technology Tips to navigate Winter Travel

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Being stuck at an airport due to winter weather can be a real downer, but with an assortment of devices, apps and other instruments for connecting to the world, you can make that down time pass in a jiffy.

10DWith today’s technology, gone are the days where you nearly go bonkers doing endless crossword puzzles or reading one celebrity magazine after another to pass away the time, or where you go nuts wondering when you’ll be able to board a plane home. Following are common concerns and their tech solutions.

Juicing up

Being stuck in an airport for hours is no reason to be disconnected from the cyber world.

  • Check out the terminal’s tech shops where you can buy a smartphone case that also doubles as a battery pack.
  • They may also sell a battery pack that’s pre-charged.
  • You can also use a kiosk that charges devices for a cheap fee.

Entertainment

Here are some fun suggestions that will help pass time:

  • Dots: A low-cost puzzle game in which you try to connect as many same-colored dots as you can within one minute.
  • Minecraft Pocket Edition: This simulates building in a virtual world, and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you choose.
  • Angry Birds Star Wars II: This is a puzzle video game involving 30 different characters. 

Navigating

  • An app for Android and iOS, called Airport Life, will help you get around large, confusing airports. This app includes a feature that updates automatically flight information and other data.

Flight Status

  • See if your preferred airline provides mobile apps through which you can book a flight, check its status and even select seats.
  • Visit the FlightAware website to track flights.
  • The Misery Map site provides an interactive graphic that shows detailed flight information for various airports. It also displays weather information.

Stranded overnight?

  • Hotel Tonight is a free app for the iOS mobile that displays vacant hotel rooms for a discount in over 150 markets.

Robert Siciliano, is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . Disclosures For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247.

Burglars busted bolstering Buffoonery

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Social media makes dumb criminals look (and act) even dumber. Take the case of Damian and Rolando Lozano of Texas, who were suspected of stealing items from 17 cars in the town of Rosenberg.

5HDamian was caught, but Rolando was still out there somewhere. The Rosenberg police posted Rolando’s photo on their Facebook page, hoping that visitors might recognize him and point to his possible whereabouts.

Whom but Rolando himself responded to his photo on the police’s Facebook page! He posted a brief note that included “catch me if u can muthasuckas.”

It took the police only 15 minutes (some speculate much less than that) to track the location of where Rolando’s snarky post originated from: a family member’s house. And that’s where he was arrested.

He, along with his brother, are suspects in a case known as the Seaborne Meadow’s Burglary of Motor Vehicles. The geniuses are now behind bars.

How did the police nab Rolando so quickly? Was it computer forensics? Well, according to a subsequent post by the police, tips from the community helped them track the thief to the relative’s house. Perhaps this was in part due to the friendly appearance and humorous photos of the Rosenberg police Facebook page.

Looks like this police department is onto something: Make a Facebook page that appears more community oriented rather than government-official oriented, and maybe the community will become more proactive in helping solve crime cases.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

10 Credit Score Truths and Myths

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If your personal information gets compromised, a thief will open up financial accounts in your name. However, they will not pay the bills, and this will ruin your credit.

2CWhether bad credit results from the legitimate credit holder’s irresponsibility or from identity theft, your ability to buy a car, rent a nice place, purchase a home or even get employment can be severely stifled.

1. Credit reports aren’t always accurate. Most have a big error or mistake: 80 percent, actually. Regularly check your credit report.

2. Pulling your credit score will lower it. A “soft” pull is done yourself for personal reasons; it will have zero effect. A “hard inquiry” is when a lender pulls it up for loan approval. It will have a negative impact, but small.

3. A higher income = higher credit score. Income is not relevant to credit score; paying bills on time (or not) is what matters.

4. Credit scores and credit reports are the same. The three big credit reports are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. But there are too many various calculations of credit score to even list here. What matters is your credit managing skills and making sure all 3 large credit bureaus have similar information and scores.

5. Debt settlement removes debt from your credit report. But debt settlement doesn’t fix bad credit. Late payments, bad information and other smears remain for up to seven years following the first “infraction” date.

6. Cash-only payments will improve credit score. You can’t build good credit unless you use credit—and wisely. Get a couple small loans or credit cards and pay them off as you use them.

7. Improve your credit score by closing your credit card accounts. Closing a card lowers your amount of disposable income: the ability to pay off other debt. You don’t want to lower “credit utilization” by closing out a card.

8. Smart management of your various banking accounts will reflect in your credit score. These are not reported to credit bureaus and thus have no impact.

9. Dispute accurate (but negative) information to remove it from your credit report. You can dispute only mistakes. A valid dispute will result in deletion of inaccurate information. A dispute of negative, but accurate, information will achieve nothing.

10. Missed payments that aren’t reported to credit bureaus won’t affect credit score. Any missed or late payment can be reported to a credit bureau.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention. For Roberts FREE ebook text- SECURE Your@emailaddress -to 411247. Disclosures.

Older Technologies Facilitate Credit Card Fraud

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America the Superpower is also the super choice for criminals wanting to steal credit card information. Security experts warn that this problem will get worse before it improves.

1CThat ancient technology of the magnetic strip on the back of credit and debit cards is a godsend to criminals. The easy-to-copy band stores account information using a technology the same as that of cassette tapes. U.S. credit card technology has not kept up with fraudsters. One challenge facing the industry is that it is very expensive for companies to upgrade their credit card security.

When a card is swiped, the strip allows communication between the retailer’s bank and the customer’s bank: 1.4 seconds. That’s enough time for the network to record the cardholder’s information on computers controlled by the payment processing companies.

Hackers can snatch account data (including security codes) as it crosses the network or steal it from databases. Though the security code is required for most online purchases, thieves don’t care as long as the magnetic strips are easily reproducible and placed on fake cards—which they then use for purchases or sell the card data online. Three bucks will get you a fraudulent card with limited customer information and a low balance.

You’ll have to wait at least until the fall of 2015 for U.S. credit card companies to ditch the magnetic strips for digital chips. Retailers want more: each transaction to require a PIN rather than signature.

What can retailers do in the meantime?

  • Internet-based payment systems should be protected from hackers with strong firewalls.
  • Data should be encrypted, so that hackers see gibberish.

This may be easier said than done, because implementing these safeguards isn’t cheap. The U.S. lags behind most other nations when it comes to credit and debit cards; most countries’ cards use the digital chips that contain account information.

Every time the card is used, the chip generates a code that’s unique. This makes it a lot harder for criminals to duplicate the cards—so difficult, in fact, that usually they don’t even bother trying to replicate them. It would really be great if the U.S. could catch on to this technology.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to AllClear ID. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video. Disclosures.

Tax Season Scams Bite Businesses

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There are numerous tax related scams out there. And as a business or even a consumer, forewarned is forearmed.

9DTax relief. Predators scan through tax lien notices to see who’s in deep with the IRS, then offer them tax relief services which are fraudulent. You pay them, and voila, your money not only is gone, but so is the “service.” You’re now further sunk in debt.

  • A fee, usually high, is required in advance.
  • These scams may be advertised on TV and radio.
  • They may also come as an unsolicited snail letter or e-mail, saying that you qualify for some governmental plan.
  • The company offering the solution may suddenly disappear.
  • If some kind of tax payment plan seems too good to be true, assume that it is.

IRS giving away money. When pigs fly. But really, this scam makes its rounds: flyers and ads claiming free money from Uncle Sam, suggesting you can file a return with minimal or no documentation. These postings often appear in churches. People see them and innocently spread the word.

Abuse of 501(c)(3). Numerous types of nonprofit organizations are exempt from certain kinds of federal income taxes. Some organizations will create schemes to become exempt, including ploys that fraudulently shield income from taxation.

Corporate ownership disguise. A third party is fraudulently used to request EIDs (employer identification numbers). The third parties then form corporations that muddle the business’s true ownership standing.

Trust misuse. Transferring assets into trusts may have some legitimacy, but shady promoters have also encouraged people to do this in an improper way. These transactions don’t live up to their promise of reducing taxable income or maximizing deductions for giving gifts or for personal expenses.

Inflated income & expenses. Though some businesses deflate income to lower what they owe, others will inflate it to optimize refundable credits. They may also claim expenses they never paid.

Hiding income offshore. Some people and businesses, to avoid paying taxes, hide income in offshore accounts. They use credit or debit cards, or wire transfers to gain access to their funds. Other people will use employee-leasing schemes, employ foreign trusts, or use insurance plans or private annuities to get access.

Fake forms. Someone files a false information return, like the Form 1099 Original Issue Discount, to validate a fake refund claim on a corresponding return. Some have made false claims for refunds based on the sham theory that the IRS has secret accounts for U.S. citizens and that one can gain access to these accounts with the 1099 OID form.

Ridiculous attempts at write-offs. Businesses claiming crazy, frivolous claims to avoid paying owed taxes like that business trip to Mardi Gras. The IRS will recognize many frivolous tax arguments and will toss them out of court.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to AllClear ID. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video. Disclosures