What kind of Home Security System is right for Me

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Burglars don’t usually depend upon the light of the moon to break into homes; they depend on the daylight—because that’s when they know most homes are empty! The kids are in school, the adults are at jobs or shopping…duhhh, even a halfwit burglar knows this is an opportune time!

4HTherefore, you should get a home security system that’s designed to repel robbers in both the dead of day, not just night. This includes while you’re home. And when you are home, a burglary turns into a “home Invasion” which often turns deadly.

  • You may be sick in bed.
  • You may be home telecommuting.
  • Or maybe you have a weekday off.
  • Maybe you work a night shift and you’re home during the day.
  • Are your kids home by themselves after school?
  • Is Gramps there by himself?
  • Do you travel frequently?
  • Figure it all out and then investigate which home security system fits your lifestyle.

A home security system isn’t just the alarm that shrieks when someone tries to break in. It can be a pendant that Gramps wears in case he falls. It could be remote monitoring of your latchkey kids.

A representative from a reputable home security company can answer all of your questions, such as how to make access to the control panel easy for kids and the elderly, while remaining hard to find by an intruder.

You’ll probably learn a lot of what the most state-of-the-art system can do—things you wouldn’t necessarily know that a security system is capable of, such as a text message triggered by the system’s sensors—indicating that something anomalous is occurring at your house, such as a window being broken or a gas or water leak.

You’ll also learn how to be smart about your system, such as making windows exceedingly difficult for an intruder to get through, including those you’d think were too small to matter.

If you have a garage, that requires yet another layer of security. An intruder may get in via a window, then get into the garage from the internal door that connects it to the house. He opens the garage and begins loading his van which is parked in the driveway, whistling nonchalantly while neighbors don’t suspect a thing.

For optimizing your security options, you should consult with experts from well-known companies and read reviews from current customers to determine which options, features, benefits, bells and whistles are most appropriate for you.

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

Protect Yourself from Online Fraud

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Yes, it’s possible: preventing fraudsters from getting you via online trickery and other stealthy actions. Yes, it’s possible to be thinking one step ahead of cyber criminals. Let’s begin with e-mails—the conduit through which so many cyber crimes like ID theft occur. 9D

  • Imagine snail-mailing vital information like your SSN, bank account number, a duplicate of your driver’s license and your credit card number. At some point in the delivery process, someone opens the letter and see the contents. Electronic messages are not entirely private. Recognize this risk before sending knowing that in transmission there is a chance your information can be seen. Sometimes the telephone is a better option.
  • Ignore sensationalistic offers in your in-box like some ridiculously low price on the same kind of prescription drug you pay out of pocket for; it’s likely a scam.
  • Ever get an e-mail from a familiar sender, and all that’s in it is a link? Don’t click on it; it may trigger a viral attack. As for the sender, it’s a crook compromised your friends email and who figured out a way to make it look like the e-mail is from someone you know.
  • In line with the above, never open an attachment from an unfamiliar sender; otherwise you may let in a virus.
  • If someone you know sends you an unexpected attachment, e-mail or call that person for verification before opening it.
  • Enable your e-mail’s filtering software to help weed out malicious e-mails.
  • Ignore e-mails asking for “verification” of account information. Duh.

Passwords

  • Don’t put your passwords on stickies and then tape them to your computer.
  • Do a password inventory and make sure all of them contain a mix of letters, numbers and characters, even if this means you must replace all of them. They also should not include actual words or names. Bad password: 789Jeff; good password: 0$8huQP#. Resist the temptation to use a pet’s name or hobby in your password.
  • Every one of your accounts gets a different password and change them often.

General

  • Make sure your computer and smartphone are protected with antivirus/anti-malware and a firewall. And keep these updated!
  • Your Wi-Fi router has a default password; change it because cyber thieves know what they are.
  • When purchasing online, patronize only well-established merchants.
  • Try to limit online transactions to only sites that have an “https” rather than “http.” A secure site also has a padlock icon before the https.
  • Make sure you never make a typo when typing into the URL; some con artists have created phony sites that reflect typos, and once you’re on and begin entering your account information, a crook will have it in his hands.
  • Access your financial or medical accounts only on your computer, never a public one.
  • Ignore e-mails or pop-ups that ask for account or personal information.
  • When you’re done using a financial site, log out.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. 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.

Trolls get Dose of Reality

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Well, you know that old saying: The viciousness of an online bully’s attack is inversely proportional to the size of his (you fill in the blank), I was thinking ego.

12DMany online bullies are female, but in the case of former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s daughter, the trolls are collectively male.

Recently Schilling tweeted how proud he was that his daughter, Gabby, will be playing softball as a pitcher for Salve Regina University. Schilling got a lot of responses. And some were disgusting, including one that mentioned assault (yeah, I’d like to see the dude who posted that try to mess with a collegiate pitcher—these young women aren’t to be messed with).

Other repulsive acts and terminology came up in the comments. Sometimes, as Schilling set out to prove, it’s not best to just ignore the bullies, thinking they’ll go away.

In the case with 17-year-old Gabby, the “bullies” are more like pond scum idiots who, in real life, would probably scurry like a mouse if a woman got in their face.

Schilling quickly tracked down the names and schools, plus some other details, of the bullys. As a result, says the athlete, nine of these maggots have been either fired from their jobs or kicked off their sports teams. The Twitter accounts of two of the trolls have been deactivated.

Schilling received apologies from them, but only after the fact. Too late. And why did these young men make the posts in the first place? They don’t even know Gabby. Do they have a teen or young adult sister? How would they feel if their teen sister were the subject of such vile posts? Some of the trolls told Schilling to chill. Would they themselves chill if their sister, girlfriend or mother were the object of vulgar comments?

Hopefully, Gabby is internally stable enough not to take extreme measures as a result of the online bullying, like the many kids who have taken their own lives. But still…internal stability or not…nobody, especially a proud dad, should have to receive vulgar posts about themselves when they’ve done nothing wrong.

If you still think this is no big deal, remember: Once you post something, it’ll probably be out there for all time—waiting to smear your reputation, or hurt someone, real real bad.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

5 Online Security Tips You need to know

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It’s up to the potential victim—the user—YOU—to make your computer or smartphone very difficult for Joe Hackster to infiltrate.

7WPasswords

  • Being that cyber crime has been a fixture of modern living for over a decade, you’d think that everyone and his brother would know to use strong, long passwords, and a different password for each account. But people—including those who’ve been around for a long time—continue using the same password and ridiculously weak passwords, like password1 and princess.
  • A very strong password will go a long way in preventing hacking incidents. It should be at least 12 characters and a mixed salad at that: different cases, numbers and symbols, and no words.
  • Every single account should have a different password.
  • Learn which accounts offer two-factor authentication, then activate it. This way, if someone gets your password they still can’t get into your account unless they have your smartphone.

The cloud is cool but not 100 percent secure

  • Sounds funky: “cloud storage.” But the vulnerabilities aren’t necessarily in the cloud service, but in your device security. If your device is vulnerable, if you don’t have security software or update your operating system, you become the criminals path to the cloud service.
  • Because the cloud is such a huge vault for holding all kinds of data, more things just simply can go wrong. The user must decide who’s better at protecting his data: a system with more resources (the cloud), or the user himself?

New doesn’t mean safe.

  • A brand-new computer or mobile device may come with preinstalled “back doors” for hackers. This is legal so that law enforcement can more easily track the bad guys in life. These back doors are vulnerabilities that can let in hackers. Do your research when making an investment in technology and install antivirus immediately.

No software is perfect.

  • Think of antivirus and antimalware as the “exterminator” who comes to your house to get rid of bugs. There’s a reason that pest control companies no longer refer to themselves as exterminators. This term implies they can kill every last bug and its eggs. They can’t. There will always be a bug somewhere, but the pest control technician can at least prevent infestations and swarms. Likewise, protective software is not 100 percent infallible, but it goes a long way in preventing computer infections.
  • So even though it’s not perfect, you absolutely must use protective software.

Mind the software update messages.

  • Don’t get annoyed by these; allow them to take place. Don’t hit “remind me later,” because chances are this will become a habit. You don’t want to delay the updates. They mean a security hole was detected, and now it can be patched. Don’t wait till later! Better yet, set all security software to automatically update.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to TheBestCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

Town sees Big Spike in Burglaries

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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.

1HIn a report on mercurynews.com, the Los Altos police chief, Tuck Younis, is quoted as saying, “It sickens me, as the one who is responsible to keep the city safe, that’s occurring. It sickens every member of our department that’s occurring, especially at the volume that is occurring in our city.”

He spoke this to an assembly of over 200 town residents. Chief Younis added that the number of burglaries is “unprecedented.” In fact, the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountainview—neighbors to Los Altos—have also been stung. And not just by local thieves, but thieves from all over.

Chief Younis speculates that a prison realignment is responsible for the spike in burglaries; convicts are getting released sooner.

And these burglars are going after hard-to-trace loot like jewelry and cash, rather than iPhones and video games. And they’ve been hitting homes both during the day and in the middle of the night.

The police have reassured residents that they are doing everything possible to break this spike up, and that there’s even been some arrests. Nevertheless, residents were instructed to be extra alert and not to hold back from reporting any suspicious activity.

Residents should also beef up their home security as well as take non-techy measures to make their homes unappealing to burglars. Being aware of the little things will make a difference, such as not letting newspapers collect in the driveway because you haven’t felt like getting the paper for a few days and not letting the lawn become overgrown—signs to a burglar that nobody’s been home for a while.

Keeping windows and doors locked at all times, using a deadbolt on doors and Charlie bars on windows, and keeping lights on will also help repel burglars. You can even get semi-techy by installing a fake video camera above the front door that a thief won’t miss—this is a good deterrent to the bad guys.

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

Paralyzed Home Invasion Victim speaks

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If a home invasion doesn’t leave you dead, it might leave you permanently paralyzed, like it did Richard Potorski, who was shot two years ago and can’t move from the chest down.

On January 8, 2013, Potorski went to his Maine home for lunch after work. Moments later he saw a gun pointing at him; it went off. He played dead—which wasn’t hard to do because his spinal cord had been severed—until his wife found him 90 minutes later.

Potorski says he doesn’t know the shooter, and even though he has a misdemeanor drug charge on his record, he was not involved with any drug deals with the shooter—Ronald Bauer, who received a 30-year prison sentence.

It’s a myth that most burglaries occur at night. Gee, night is when most people are home. Most people are gone during the day at work. Burglars know that. What if Potorski had had a security system on that fateful day? This isn’t a blame-the-victim mentality; it’s a very fair question.

Imagine Bauer trying to gain entrance and a screaming alarm sounds. He would have fled like a bat out of hell. Or suppose there was no alarm system, but the door had a top-of-the-line deadbolt and reinforcement system, and the locked windows all had Charlie bars and penetration-proof film. Bauer wanted to get in quick without attracting attention. Why would a burglar want to be seen spending 20 minutes trying to break into a house? Yep, it’s a very fair question.

Evaluate your lifestyle so that you can have an idea of what kind of security system will best suit you. For example, if you’re away a lot, or even only from 8:00 to 5:00, you’ll need a remote monitoring system.

Today’s systems are really cool in that you can even receive e-mails and texts about variables that the system detects. You can even see what’s going on with real-time surveillance transmitted to your phone.

Imagine that someone breaks in while you’re exiting your worksite to go home for lunch, and you get the alert on your phone. You connect and see some druggie trashing your place looking for cash. You won’t get shot by him. We live in a cruel world and need to be prepared.

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

6 Ways to halt Online Tracking

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“On the Internet, you can be ANYBODY!”

1PNot quite. Remaining anonymous in cyber space isn’t as easy as it used to be. Your browsing habits can be tracked, leading to your true identity. But there are things you can do to remain as anonymous as possible.

  • Don’t feel you must use your full, real name when filling out forms or whatever, just because it’s asked or even a “required field.” Of course, you’ll want to use your real name when registering online with a bank, for instance, or making a purchase. But sometimes, the real name just isn’t necessary, such as when registering with a site so that you can post comments on its news articles, or registering with an online community so that you can participate in forums.
  • Stop “liking” things. Does your vote really matter in a sea of thousands anyways? But you can still be tracked even if you don’t hit “like” buttons, so always log off of social media sites when done. This means hit the “log out” button, not just close out the page.
  • Twitter has options to control how much it tracks you, so check those out.
  • Clear your browser cookies automatically every day.
  • Use a disposable e-mail address; these expire after a set time.
  • Firefox users get a browser add-on called NoScript to block JavaScript. JavaScript gets information on you, especially when you fill out a form. However, JavaScript has many other functions, so if you block it, this may impair ease of use of the websites you like to navigate.

Virtual Private Network

You may not think it’s a big deal that your browsing habits get tracked, but this can be used against you in a way that you cannot possibly imagine.

For example, you suffer whiplash injury in a car accident and want to sue the erroneous driver who caused it. However, your nephew asks your advice on weight lifting equipment, so you decide to visit some websites on weight lifting equipment since you know a lot about this.

The defendant’s attorney gets wind of this online search and can use it against you, claiming you don’t really have any whiplash injuries. How can you prove you were searching this information for your nephew?

A VPN will scramble your browsing activities so that you can freely roam the virtual world wherever you are without worrying you’re being tracked. Your IP address will be hidden. One such VPN service is Hotspot Shield, which can be used on iOS, Android, Mac and PC.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. 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.

Lost your Master Password, do This

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You have a master password, from your password manager, for 28 accounts. Life has been so easy since!

5DBut then you lose this master password. First off, you can’t fix this like you would if you forgot your password for PayPal or your credit card’s site. Plus, each password manager service has a different solution.

Yet how do you lose a master password in the first place? If it’s impossible to remember,then it may not be a good master password, regardless it should be written down somewhere in a secret location.

Lifehacker.com explains the requirements for various password manager services if you actually lose your master password.

Dashlane

  • A lost master password with Dashlane is like, well…imagine your backpack falling into a dark crevasse—gone forever—even if you have applications for your smartphone for Dashlane.
  • You’ll need to create a new account or reset the existing account, but either way, you must start from scratch.

1Password

  • You’re out of luck if you lose your master password—gone with the wind; you must begin all over again, just like with Dashlane.

LastPass

  • Offers a one-time password, after which you must reset your password
  • Requires the computer you’ve already been using LastPass for
  • You’ll need the associated e-mail account. Otherwise, you must begin everything from ground zero.

KeePass

  • Lose your master password with this and you’re done. You must start from scratch.
  • Don’t even bother trying to crack it because KeePass does have built-in protection.

Roboform

  • It’s too bad here, too. Resetting your password means losing all of your data.

Of course, you don’t ever have to be in this hairy situation in the first place.

  • Write down your master password and store it in a secret location; do this several times, even, and make sure the locations are ones you won’t forget.
  • Write down the one-time password or backup code for your service (if it has these features). Write it down in more than one location, e.g., tape a stickie with it on the underside of your desk may not be the most secure, but an option.
  • See if the service allows you to export your password, then do so. Then save it on your computer and also print it out for a hardcopy duplicate. For better security don’t store it in your computer but instead in a USB drive (in addition to hardcopy).
  • See if the service provides a feature for emergency contacts, then set this feature up.
  • Back up all of your data as a general rule.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

What is a Virus?

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Have you ever had the chicken pox? This common childhood illness has another name—the varicella zoster virus. Like all viruses, varicella replicates itself, spreading though the body, and eventually appearing as itchy red blisters all over the body. But the virus doesn’t stop there; it can spread to other people through physical contact and through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It’s not a very fun illness to have.

6DViruses don’t just affect humans; there are viruses that can affect your tech devices. A tech virus is a malicious program file that can also replicate itself and infect other devices through techniques like malicious links and sketchy downloads. But unlike the chicken pox where the virus eventually appears on your skin, a virus could be wreaking havoc on your device and you might not even know it!

Computer and mobile viruses can take many different form factors, but all are usually intended to do harm to your device, steal your personal info or money or both. Some examples of viruses include a Trojan Horse, which masquerades as something neutral or benevolent, but is programmed to infect the hard drive or even crash it. Spyware is a virus that observes your activities like logging into your bank account, collects this data (e.g., password, answer to secret question, username) and sends it to the hacker. And a worm, like other viruses, can corrupt files, steal sensitive information, or modify system settings to make your machine more vulnerable, but it’s different in that it can replicate and send copies of itself to other computers in a network without any human interaction.

There are several clues that could mean that your device has a virus. For example, if you notice your device is suddenly running at a snail’s pace. Another example is programs or apps opening and closing on their own. Or a major sign would be if you receive an email from a friend responding to a mass email you supposedly sent promoting some great deal on a pharmaceutical (that you never actually sent).

Just like there are things you can do to prevent the chicken pox, like wash your hands and stay away from infected people, there are ways to prevent a virus from getting on your device.

  • Be wary. Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know.
  • Think before you click. Don’t click blindly. Check the link URL to make sure you are being directed to a legitimate site.
  • Keep your OS and browser updated. Make sure that you install the latest updates for your operating system and browser as well as any hardware updates that are available for your device as these often close up security holes.
  • Install security software. Use comprehensive security software that protects all your devices, like McAfee LiveSafe™.

Here’s to keeping all your devices nice and healthy!

Robert Siciliano is an Online Safety Expert to Intel Security. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! Disclosures.

Keyloggers log wirelessly

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Gee, it sounds like something out of one of those 1970s TV shows about government spies, but it’s reality: Plug this little thing into a wall socket and it records the keystrokes of a person nearby typing into a Microsoft wireless keyboard. The little gadget sends the information back to the gadget’s owner over the Internet.

1DThe device looks like a USB wall charger, and this “KeySweeper” can be created with instructions from Samy Kamkar, a hardware hacker and security researcher who developed the gadget.

An article on threatpost.com explains that KeySweeper can alert its operator when keystrokes spell out something that the thief-operator would be interested in, such as a bank’s website address. The device continues working even when removed from the wall socket.

As for making a KeySweeper, Kamkar says that it’s not wise for a person without strong knowledge of electrical things to attempt to construct one.

To remain as inconspicuous as possible, the KeySweeper relies upon low profile hardware and very low power. It can also be powered by a battery because it’s installed inside a USB wall charger. So if you unplug the device (and thus disconnect it from A/C power), KeySweeper is still going, relying on its battery inside.

And if you think that KeySweeper is difficult to detect, you’re correct. It could be sitting in someone’s lap one table over from you at the Internet cafe and recording your keystrokes.

Your only protection then would be to use a keyboard that requires an electrical cord, or, a wireless one that’s not from Microsoft. Kamkar’s device works only with Microsoft because of the technological compatibility that Microsoft’s wireless keyboards have with the gadget. It is likely however that devices such as this will become more common and will also work with other keyboards.

So how do you protect yourself? Seems difficult if not impossible. One way would be to reduce the amount of data that could be exposed. The most sensitive data is generally passwords and credit card data. A password manager will enter all this data for you and not require keystrokes. This is the most effective and secure “autofill” available that bypasses keystrokes.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.