Entries by Robert Siciliano

How to encrypt your email with PGP

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) “is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security of e-mail communications.” Say you have a manufacturing plant in China that makes…

Is Email Encryption Right for Your Business?

The Privacy Rights Clearing house currently tallies 542,608,451 records breached in the past 5 years. Unsecure email certainly contributes to the problem. Small business email (or any email) starts off on a secure or unsecure wired or wireless network then travels over numerous networks through secure or unsecure email servers often vulnerable to people who…

Data Privacy Day 2012

Lately, it seems that barely a day goes by when we don’t learn about a major Internet presence taking steps to further erode users’ privacy. The companies with access to our data are tracking us in ways that make Big Brother look like a sweet little baby sister. Typically when we hear an outcry about…

How To Steal A Car: Hack It!

No more jimmying doors with a Slim Jim, bricks through windows, extracting lock cylinders with a dent puller, or hot-wiring ignitions. Automobiles today are being built to include wireless capabilities that allow for remote unlock, remote start, and of course, there’s global positioning systems (GPS) and services like OnStar and ATX, which offer “telematics,” or…

Phishing Scammers Target Macs

On Christmas Day, 2011, Apple product users were targeted by a major phishing attack. The Mac Security Blog reported, “A vast phishing attack has broken out, beginning on or around Christmas day, with emails being sent with the subject ‘Apple update your Billing Information.’ These well-crafted emails could fool many new Apple users, especially those who may…

5 Digital New Year’s Resolutions For Parents

McAfee recently distributed a press release and the line that caught my eye was, “Now is the time for parents to model good behavior and etiquette.”  it This wasn’t something you’d normally expect to see from a major security company, so intrigued, I read on. Instruction in etiquette and good behavior is something we could…

Cross-Device Security Means “All Access”

You may have a laptop, desktop, netbook, notebook, Ultrabook, tablet, Mac, or mobile phone. You might be single, married, or have ten kids. Either way, you probably have at least one, if not six or more, devices requiring comprehensive security. My family of four has 12 devices, all of which I do my best to…

FBI Needs Your Help to Take Down Cyber Fraud

Public–private partnership (PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. Here’s an example of “public-private partnerships”: Six Estonian nationals have been arrested and charged with running a sophisticated Internet fraud ring that infected millions of computers worldwide…