Entries by Robert Siciliano

How Likely Am I to Be a Victim of Mobile Crime or Data Theft?

Imagine your body being targeted by 100 million viruses. That is exactly what’s happening to your networked digital devices. Laptops, desktops, netbooks, Macs, iPads, iPhones, BlackBerrys, Androids and Symbian mobile phones are all at risk. Research from McAfee Labs™ reveals a variety of threats: Mobile: Android has become the most popular platform for mobile malware.…

Children Heading Back to School Face Identity Theft Risk

This isn’t rocket science. We have millions of children registering for schools in person, online, over the phone, via email and through the mail. All of these transactions involve personal identifying information including names, addresses and Social Security numbers. All of these exchanges of data can be breached in some way by those on the…

4 Tactics Cybercriminals Are Using to Steal From Us

Today McAfee Labs™ released the McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2013, which reported that the cybercriminal community is using four main tactics to steal our identities, and our money. As consumers, it’s critical that we are aware of the ways the hackers are trying to attack us and here’s the four main ways: 1. Malicious apps…

5 ways to Protect Privacy on Mobile Devices

Privacy advocates are working to prevent the worst and most extreme outcomes of personal data collection. They know that without checks and balances—without consumers knowing their rights and actively protecting their own privacy and personal data—that data could be used unethically. Privacy is your right. But in our digital, interconnected world, privacy only really consists…

Making a Case for Mobile Payment

Mobile payment can transform your shopping experience, making it more convenient and easy—and it’s secure, too! Forbes reports, “Shopping has become very impersonal. Few people have a relationship with a salesperson who knows their style and preferences and can direct them to the right items at the right prices as soon as they walk in…

Serious Growth for mCommerce in 2012

The practice of mCommerce (or M-commerce) is using a mobile phone to make purchases. Like credit card transactions, your card/device can be either present or not present. Mobile payment has been around for years in numerous forms for purchases such as downloading music, ringtones and various other services, and it is now gaining traction for…

What is a Keylogger?

Whether it is called a keylogger, spyware or monitoring software, it can be the equivalent of digital surveillance, revealing every click and touch, every download and conversation. A keylogger (short for keystroke logger) is software that tracks or logs the keys struck on your keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that you don’t know…

What is a Mobile Botnet?

The word botnet is short for robot network, a group of internet-connected computers that have been infected by a malicious application. The malware allows a hacker to control the infected computers without alerting the computers’ owners. Since the infected computers are controlled remotely, they are known as bots, robots or zombies. When a virus recruits…

The Benefits of Having Keyless Locks

You already know what a keyless lock is. It’s simply a “combination lock,” but much more advanced and sophisticated than the ones you had on your high school locker. The old combo locks required three turns in a clockwise/counterclockwise direction to open. Combo locks are cumbersome, confusing and sometimes don’t pass the “grandmother test”. But…