Children engage in online shopping, social media, mobile web, and computers just like adults do. Many parents feel a bit overwhelmed by technology and often throw their hands in the air and give up. Unfortunately, that’s not an option. It is essential that parents educate themselves on safe, secure online practices in order to set…
I love my dog, 60lb German Shepherd. Small for a shepherd, but she was the runt. I’ve always rooted for the underdog. The underdog has more heart, more passion and often tries harder. Anyway people love their pets, which is why it’s a multi-billion dollar a year business. Scammers know this too and they prey upon classified…
We use the web to search, shop and to connect with friends and family. And in the process criminals are trying steal from us. It used to be that a person only had to know not to open a file in an attachment from someone they didn’t know. Today there are more ways than ever that your PC…
Over the past 5 years a scam known as electronic funds transfers at the point of sale (EFTPOS ) or skimming has been prevalent. Consumers commonly swipe both credit and debit cards through the in-store machines to pay for goods and services and hackers have been adept at coming up with ways to skim those…
Calling all identity thieves, stop wasting your time trying to open new credit card accounts or taking over existing credit card accounts, the money is in IRS tax related identity theft. The IRS is struggling to keep up with all the fraudulent income tax returns coming in via US postal and online filings. Criminals are…
Identity theft of the deceased is so wrong, and so easy, thanks in part to the availability of public records. In the 1990s, a provision in a federal welfare reform law created a loophole allowing swindlers to obtain Social Security numbers of the recently deceased. Some states’ records and statistics registries include Social Security numbers…
For more than a decade, cyber criminals have launched countless attacks on banks’ online infrastructure, successfully one-upping security professionals and their clients by creating viruses that bypass existing security measures. In response, computer security companies have continuously updated their technologies to address new cyber threats. However, one major variable that technology cannot control is the…
All over the world, online dating sites are riddled with internet scammers. For example the Australian government has collected reports from 1600 internet fraud victims who reported losing a total of 17 million dollars to online dating scams in 2011. “These scams typically involve a genuine user of a dating website being contacted by a…
Brilliance, historically, is often expressed in the simplest of technologies; the wheel and the light bulb are perfect examples. Today, brilliance is often attributed to advances in technologies that cure illnesses, solve problems, and make our lives easier. Over the past decade, coders, programmers, and hackers of all kinds have come up with some of…
There are few pseudo holiday celebration days or months that truly get my attention. But National Cyber Security Awareness Month definitely does! It’s the one month a year that consumers are consistently reminded by news reporters, government agencies, non-profits and security companies that security is everyone’s responsibility. All of us need to take actions to…
