Are you guilty as charged? Whenever I bring this up in a group setting, it astonishes me how many people raise their hands. I wonder if they realize that they are putting all the personal information contained on their mobile device at risk. The unfortunate reality is that everyone loses things, and our devices can…
A report from Europol states that payment card fraud is a low-risk and highly profitable criminal activity that brings EU-based organized crime groups a yearly income of around 1.5 billion euros. These criminal assets can be invested in further developing criminal techniques, used to finance other criminal activities, or even facilitate the start-up of legal businesses. Payment…
Once you own a smartphone or tablet, you are not likely to give it up. But it is essential that you can understand where the risks are and steer around them as you enjoy your mobile digital life. With the growth in mobile exploding, it is only natural for cybercriminals to move towards that device…
A recent Wall StreetJournal article drew attention to the fact that, “Companies are watching you. They want to know where you go on the web, what you buy and what causes you support—with the hope of sending you targeted offers based on your preferences and lifestyle choices.” When browsing the internet, consumers without proper protection…
In unwanted credit card charges, the details are the fine print—and the fine print often results in devilish “grey charges.”Grey charges are those credit card charges that appear on your statement from out of the blue, charging us small or large fees—or sometimes a single charge—monthly or annually. The fine print can sometimes be expensive.…
Recently, the FBI arrested 13 people in four states. Their crime? Allegedly creating thousands of phony identities with which to steal at least $200 million in one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the Department of Justice. Bloomberg reports that after using 7,000 false identities to obtain 25,000 credit cards, the conspirators ran…
Mobile computing is the new frontier of personal technology. Whether you are on a phone or tablet, if you have a carrier connection, you are mobile. Today, most of us can’t live without our mobile devices. We live in an always on, always connected world. While this is convenient in many ways, it also brings…
OnGuardOnline.gov, co-managed by the Federal Trade Commission, is the federal government’s website to help you be safe, secure and responsible online.OnGuardOnline.gov is a partner in the Stop Think Connect campaign, led by the Department of Homeland Security, and part of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.…
McAfee released the study Love, Relationships, and Technology: When Private Data Gets Stuck in the Middle of a Breakup, which examines at the pitfalls of sharing personal data in relationships and discloses how breakups can lead to exposure of private data. Nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners have personal and intimate information (such as revealing photos, bank account…
You’ve probably heard the term IP address before but you likely aren’t fully aware of all the ways it is used. Or misused by various entities. Or how you can turn an IP address to your own advantage by taking control of who gets to use it. An internet protocol (IP) address is a numerical…
