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…
I think it’s safe to say that all credit card charges are unwanted, but today I’m talking about so-called “grey charges”—those out-of-the-blue credit card charges that sneak up on us and require our time, attention, persistence and aggravation to get rid of. A study by BillGuard shows the average dollar amount lost by grey charges…
It seems that almost every site on the Web requires a password. At least twice a week, I get an email from someone who wants me to join yet another site, which requires yet another username and password. You can cop out and use the same username and password combination, but that’s always possible since some…
Time isn’t just money. Time is what you spend with your family, on a vacation or watching a kid’s dance recital. Time can be gained or lost based on how efficiently or inefficiently you use and implement mobile technology. First and foremost, your mobile phone is a communication tool. It should be set up to…
