Social media has evolved into the fifth major form of media: print, radio, television, Internet, social. While social media functions on the Internet, there’s no denying that it is its own platform. It encompasses most forms of media in one tight and neat package. Some social networking sites have more users than number of residents…
There has been a bit of buzz lately regarding an Internet “kill switch” and a handful of trusted individuals given the responsibility of rebooting the Internet, should it go down from cyber attack or be shut down for whatever reason. The operation is born of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICAAN). ICANN…
Child identity theft is a growing problem. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that there are 500,000 new victims every year. The culprits are often parents or others who have direct access to the child’s Social Security number. (In my own experience, I’ve had to give out my children’s Social Security numbers to hospitals, insurers, and…
In a recent post (Hackers Play “Social Engineering Capture The Flag” At Defcon) I pointed to a game in which contestants used the telephone to convince company employees to voluntarily cough up information they probably shouldn’t have. At the recent Defcon event, social engineers proved that it doesn’t take much more than asking to get…
I was 17 once. I hung around with good kids, not so good kids and very bad kids. Teens heavily influence one another in ways that can have a direct impact on their futures. When you are young and new to the world, you are seeking out how things are supposed to be. Your gauge…
Sticking your cash in a mattress has never been a good idea. That’s why we have banks. Banks have safes, insurance, and other systems in place to ensure that multiple layers of security protect your money. In the past decade, however, as much as 80% of all banking has taken place online, compared to the…
Cameron Diaz has replaced Jessica Biel as the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the Web, according to security company McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE). For the fourth year in a row, McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest celebrity athletes, musicians, politicians, comedians and Hollywood stars on the Web. The…
We hear it over and over how the elderly are often targeted by scammers. Elderly are simply “elders” and no smarter or dumber than anyone else. If anything, they are wiser. However, as we age we often get feeble, weaker in the mind. That slightly weaker state of mind is when the scammer strikes. You…
I’ve said numerous times that there’s too much trust in the Facebook world. People have entirely dropped their sense of cynicism when logged on. Apparently, they see no reason to distrust. Generally, your “friends” are people who you “know, like and trust.” In this world, your guard is as down as it will ever be.…
The term “spy” conjures ideas about “foreign operatives,” “moles” and James Bond. You might envision forged IDs, fake passports and fraudulently issued government sponsored papers. When spies were recently exposed and caught in the United States, it was kind of surreal for me, since some of them lived right here in Boston. Back in the…
