No one wants to be a victim of identity theft (at least not that I’m aware of). But even though we may say this, our actions don’t always indicate this—and actions speak louder than words. Some of this information may seem basic or like common sense, but these are still tactics that identity thieves utilize…
We also say we want to be safe online. Yet sometimes our actions betray our words—especially if we’re using simple, short passwords for our online sites. Passwords with less than eight characters are the easiest to crack, especially if they include a proper noun or a word that’s in a dictionary. Hackers especially love passwords…
Smartphone apps. There are apps wanting your location when they do not need it. Are there any apps requesting your location? You should deny them this information unless it’s absolutely necessary. Another way your phone knows where you are in terms of location is through the data of a photo. Put up lots of photos…
Malware is everywhere and isn’t about to disappear. The latest PandaLabs report says that last year alone, of all the malware that ever existed, cyber crooks created and distributed 20 percent of that. Malware comes in the form of Trojans, worms, viruses, adware/spyware and miscellaneous, with Trojans leading the pack. Ransomware seems to be gunning…
There are 10 basic ways a crook can easily rob your identity by getting at your credit card or open a new credit card in your name, but there are also ways you can prevent this from occurring. Simple Thievery Leave a window open and a thief can slide through, then steal your stuff. He…
Businesses that focus on the big security breach may very well be missing the smaller threats that can do serious damage. A human can easily kill a gnat. So how is it that just one gnat can drive you crazy, even though you can kill it in an instant? You are bigger and mightier ……
Crooks want your health information. Why? It’s called medical identity theft, and it’s not going away too soon. In fact, the ACA (Affordable Care Act) has only fueled the situation, says the Ponemon Institute, a security research firm. This latest of Ponemon’s four annual Patient Privacy and Data Security studies reveals that sloppy behavior, like…
Scammers are at it again, this time with green dot cards: a pre-paid debit card available at stores. It can work like this: Let’s say you run a small business. You’re out and about, then return to find an employee informing you that the electric company called about an unpaid bill. So you return the…
No, it’s not some new engineering field to develop social media sites. Social engineering has been around as long as the con artist has been around. The terms stems from the social science world where social engineering is deemed as an act of psychological manipulation. In our tech-laden world of today, social engineering still involves deceit but…
Here are a number of ways you can protect your credit cards from fraud. 1. Keep a sharp eye on your credit card accounts. Read through the purchases for every monthly statement to see if any unfamiliar or odd items show up. Don’t just skip past small purchases; a charge for $9.95 could still be…
