Entries by Robert Siciliano

Should Stalking or Spying Apps be banned?

The words “spying” and “stalking” have negative connotations, but there’s a flipside to the coin: parents monitoring their kids’ online activities and physical locations. And how about middle-aged adults keeping track of the whereabouts of their aged parents with dementia? If you fear that apps for “spying” might get banned, here’s bad news: U.S. Senator…

Protect Yourself from Holiday Shopping Scams

Even though the highly publicized retail data breaches have involved off-line brick and mortar stores, this doesn’t mean that security is high with online shopping. Scammers and hackers are waiting for you in more ways than you know, such as: Fake product reviews Non-existent products Delivered products that don’t match what was seen on the…

Keep Accountant happy and Thieves out

Are you a shredder? I hope so. No identity thief on this planet is going to want to attempt to reconstruct cross-shredded documents. So what, then, should you make a habit of shredding? All financial documents and information, including financial information you’ve jotted on a Post-it note. Credit card receipts unless you want to file…

Basics on How to prepare for a Disaster

Situations that could put your routine or an entire city on hold include: Tornado Hurricane Flood Blizzard Power outage Contagious illness Your house should already be equipped with supplies for staying inside the house for at least a week, but ideally for two weeks. Keep a newer pair of walking footwear stored—to be used during…

How to stop Teenage Sexting

Sexting is the act of sending images of a sexual nature via cell phone, often naked pictures. Because texting technology is so readily available and easy to understand, parents should be quite leery of telling themselves, “Oh, MY kid would never do that!” Studies showy your kid already did it. 12-17 year olds sext. And…

Secure your home for the holidays

The holiday season is ramping up. And so are burglars. Even if you don’t get very festive, burglars may still target your home. Your dark, unlit home among all the dazzling festive homes will stick out like a sore thumb. Whether you have 10,000 decorative lights on or none, here’s what to do: Keep all…

Career Criminal goes down

A sharp nine-year-old girl has a biting message to a 51-year-old man, according to an article on myfoxboston.com: “You deserve to stay in jail because you break into peoples houses. Stop breaking into peoples houses and do something with your life.” This advice was directed to Pedro Gomez, whom police are labeling a career criminal.…

8 ways to avoid holiday shopping scams

So what will you be doing this holiday season to avoid getting scammed? The scammers really come out of the woodwork during the holidays, waiting to snatch their victims. It’s easier than you think to avoid getting ripped off or getting your entire bank account sucked dry. Here’s how to avoid getting tangled in a…