Don’t wait until you’re locked out at night in the cold to contact a locksmith. Know ahead of time who you’d call, should you ever have a need for this kind of service. And keep that number in your phone, wallet, purse and car. First find their address on their ad or website. Try to…
Isis Mobile Wallet allows you to make purchases with your phone—a technology that just went live. Just wave your Isis-compatible smartphone at select cash registers to buy soda or taxi service, via Isis’s near-field communication technology. (iPhone compatibility with NFC will come later on.) Incentives Customers of Isis Mobile Wallet can use My Coke Rewards…
The 80-year-old spent $500,000 on his new girlfriend—whom he’d never met. The online romance began with an e-mail (from supposedly a dating service) from a young nurse in Ghana who said she would take care of him. Then requests for money followed. The man’s son believed that the “nurse” was likely a male con artist.…
Ever thought of who’d get your assets should you meet an untimely death, or even if you’re 99 and sensing that the time to check out is very soon? You may know whom you want to receive your assets, but do you know for sure that they actually will? After all, policyholders are not required…
Card fraud affects merchants, not just shoppers. The Data Security Standard 3.0, released by the Payment Card Industry (PCI), urges companies to create a data flow diagram. This diagram would reveal all the systems, applications and employees who have access to cardholder data. “In the majority of compromises we’ve seen over the past few years,…
It happens every 15 seconds in America: a burglary, says the FBI’s 2010 Crime Clock Statistics. Don’t fall for the following myths. Myth 1: “I can’t afford an alarm system.” There are security systems for every budget. You can even get monitoring from an alarm company for just $9.95 a month—easy money if you give…
You can have peace of mind while away from home during the holidays by implementing the following home security tips. Home vacation checks. Arrange with your local police department to periodically cruise by your house when you’re out of town. Alert your neighborhood watch group. Inform the group of your vacation plans so they can…
#1. Whenever possible, configure your Internet connection to always use HTTPS. This is the “https” that appears before the “www” in a Web address, and the https is preceded by a padlock icon. For Gmail, this works by clicking Settings in the top right; select the General tab, then hit Always use HTTPS, then save…
Thanks to social media, societal norms have undergone a seismic shift in the past five years. What was once considered private or even taboo is not only fair game, it’s expected. But this can have serious consequences from the ending of friendships to exposure to physical harm. I’ve talked about the concept of TMI or…
My friends at Schlage want you to have a safe holiday season. Did you know that Christmas trees can kill? Not by falling on you, but by burning down your house. Between 2006 and 2010, about 230 home fires per year were responded to by U.S. fire departments, killing an average of four people each…
