11 Tips to Secure Online Shopping

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Here are 11 tips to have a safe online shopping experience during the holiday season:

  1. Avoid spoofed websites. Common sense says any time you receive an offer via an e-mail automatically be suspicious. The same goes with offers via tweets and messages received in any social media site.
  2. Don’t click the links in e-mails. Especially if it’s a too good to be true offer.
  3. Beware of cybersquatting and typosquatting which may look like the domain of the legitimate eTailer.
  4. Look for https:// in the address bar signifying it’s a secure page. Generally, scammers won’t take the time to set up secure sites. Note the closed padlock in your browser to back up the HttpS.
  5. Beware of e-mails coming for eBay scammers. If you are seeking deals on eBay, go right to the site and don’t bother responding to e-mails. Search deals on an e-mail directly on eBay.
  6. Look at the eBayers history. eBay is set up on the honor system. If the eBayer is an established seller with great feedback, they should be legit.
  7. Pay close attention to your statements. Check them every two weeks online and refute unauthorized charges within 2 billing cycles.
  8. Don’t use a debit-card online. If your debit card is compromised, that’s money out of your bank account. Credit cards have more protection and less liability.
  9. Avoid paying by check online/mail-order. Once the money is taken from your account and you don’t receive the goods, you are going to have a difficult, if not impossible, task of getting it back.
  10. Do business with those you know, like and trust. It’s best to buy high ticket items from eTailers that also have brick and mortar locations.
  11. Secure your PC. Update your critical security patches and anti-virus and only shop from a secured internet connection.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing
credit and debit card fraud on CNBC.

New Jersey Home Robbery: One Unlocked Window Brings a Life of Pain

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Robbery as defined in Wikipedia is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Robbery differs from simple theft, a break-in or burglary on its use of violence and intimidation.

Many of us are told that when you are attacked to let it happen so it doesn’t get any worse. In some cases that may be your only option. Studies have also shown that fighting back might be a better option. Showing resistance and making it difficult for your attacker to do their job often helps you get to safety.

In New Jersey near Atlantic City “a woman, identified only as “L. L.” in documents, was asleep in her bed and a 28 year old man crawled in an open window at about 1:30 a.m. L.L. heard something fall, got up to investigate the noise and met the home invader  inside her home.

The predator is accused of beating and raping her, then filling a trash bag with personal items in order to derail an investigation before fleeing her home. Armed with a knife, police said, he threatened to kill L.L. if she talked with authorities.”

The best course of action is always to put systems in place to avoid having to confront a predator in the first place.

There are some things that can be done to reduce the chances that your home is targeted for robbery:
1. Install outdoor lighting that may keep the bad guy away

2. Lock all doors and windows always
3. Install security cameras
4. Install a home alarm system. Have a panic button for your home alarm that calls for help and sends a screaming alarm
5. Always run to safety when attacked. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home invasions on the Gordon Elliot Show.

Prolific Burglar Shares Tips from Prison

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Who better to tell you how to protect your home than a career criminal that began breaking into homes at the tender age of 14. Up until he was finally jailed,  he fed a heroin addiction for almost 30 years by breaking into over 200 homes. That’s an average of breaking into one home every 2 months for 30 years!

How he chose homes:

He randomly chose single level homes that had open shades where he could see inside if anyone was home. He cased the homes over a few days.

Often he would choose a home near the parking lot of a business, church or other establishment where he could park his car unnoticed.

A big attraction was if he saw any degree of mail or newspapers accumulating. One to 2 days worth of mail would prompt him to case the home further. If the home didn’t have that “lived in look” he would knock on the front door, ring the bell, tap on windows and if nobody answered he would jiggle the doorknob.

He also looked at a home’s lighting. If an exterior light was on at 2pm during daylight and still on at 4am, then it was likely the person was away from the home and left the light on to give the false impression they were home at night, not thinking a burglar would notice the light during the day.

What homes he avoided:

Any home with a “Beware of Dog” sign or any pictures of dogs wasn’t worth the risk. If the home had the appearance of a home security system, home security cameras, signage, stickers or a visible alarm keypad, he avoided the home saying again, it’s not worth the risk.

I think it’s pretty clear what you should do and what you shouldn’t do to attract the attention and deter a burglar.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston.

Holiday Shopping: Beware of Unethical Online Merchants

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We have all encountered a sales clerk who was rude, a customer service representative who was incompetent and an online purchase that went south. Even I’ve been scammed out of an entire order and spent dozens of hours trying to get a return on another.

But when it comes to outrageous and shocking, including threats of violence and outright fraud, this story takes the cake.  An online merchant based in Brooklyn New York retailing designer sunglasses, some counterfeit and some real, thrives on bad customer service, over charging, making threats, stalking and abusing clients into giving up the fight over what’s right.

The merchant prides himself on getting negative feedback on consumer advocacy and review sites such as Get Satisfaction, ComplaintsBoard.com, ConsumerAffairs.com, RipoffReport.com, Yelp and Epinions.

He thrives on – for example “DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY. This has been the most horrific experience EVER. I have extensive knowledge of website management and customer service, and they pretty much break every rule imagined. They are a total scam”

The strategy of negativity gets this merchants website ranked high on search when listed with all the different opinion sites. Google and other search engines often rank a website to show on the first page of search based on how many links point to it from other prominent sites. So even though all the negative links are pointing to the unethical site from opinion sites, it still ranks on the first page of search helping its sales.

Beware of making purchases on any website based on how they rank in search. Even a first page organic hit can lead to a scammy company.

Learn from others bad experiences. ALWAYS search “Name Of Company” in Google before you make a purchase. The review sites almost always show on the first page of search when “Name Of Company” has been blacklisted.

More on THIS STORY.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing scammers and thieves on The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch.

City or Suburbs, Which is Safer?

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At one time everyone lived in the city, that’s all there was. Then suburban growth began and those who had money left the city for the suburbs. City inhabitants left back were often poor and where there is poor there seems to be crime.

There are many obvious differences between suburbia and city life including noise, congestion and crime. City kids are usually a little more street wise and suburban kids less so.

My parents grew up in the city and their parent’s grew up in the city. When I was young we lived in the city.

We moved to the “Leave It to Beaver” suburbs when I attended the first grade and I went through high-school a suburbanite. And because my parents were so young, (they were both 19 when I was born) I pretty much spent every weekend with my grandparents in the city. Growing up I kind of lived a “double life”. I had the idyllic upbringing of suburban life with the street savvy exposure of the city.

Over the years I’ve noticed lots of change in suburbia. Big change has occurred partly because of the Internet. With instant information and social media, the lines between city and suburb have been significantly blurred.

But what has obliterated those lines is crime. Crime now happens in suburbia just like it happens in the city. Statistically crime in the city is still higher than in suburbia, but the types of crimes, frequency and the violent nature of crimes are sometimes as bad in the suburbs as they are in the city.

Violence, burglaries, car theft, robberies and murder happen everywhere. And home invasions and the brutality that come with them are happening a lot in the suburbs.

In a Connecticut suburb Dr. William A. Petit Jr. was almost beaten to death while his wife and daughters, ages 17 and 11, were killed and the house was set on fire.

In a suburb in New Hampshire during a home invasion a mother is hacked to death with a machete and her daughter barley survives a similar attack.

What this all means is if you are an old school thinker and have grown up thinking “It can’t happen to me. Not here, we live in the burbs, that stuff happens in the city””…then you need to pay attention. If you live in the suburbs and neglect home security, not locking doors or thinking you don’t need a home security system is naïve.

Living in the suburbs no longer means you are insulated from crime. “Leave It To Beaver” is off the air.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Invasions on Montel Williams.

Supercookies: What Websites Know About You

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Most major websites now install cookies on your computer, which track what you do online. Over time, these cookies develop a profile, which becomes your digital fingerprint, to a certain extent. You may have noticed after searching for a specific product, advertisements for that particular product or brand appearing on various other websites you visit.

The New York Times reports , “advertisers are increasingly using powerful software known as supercookies, such as so-called Flash and document object management (or DOM) cookies, which can hold more information, and Web bugs or beacons, which let sites record statistics like what ads attracted you to the site and whether you bought something. They are not removed when you clear out your cookies.”

The “harm” done here is less damaging than it is invasive. Meaning I don’t see any physical harm or identity theft ever happening as a result of this refined marketing. More so, it is very intrusive to some peoples web surfing habits and the collecting of this type of information will continually define what we are presented when we travel to different websites.

With numerous privacy watchdogs taking this kind of advertising offensively, and the Obama administration now stepping in, we will surely see standards in this kind of marketing practice appear over the next few years.

The NYT post HERE provides a litany of resources to combat supercookies. Another great resource from Linda Criddle HERE

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing advertisers using “Internet spying” on Fox News.

Catching Criminals With a DNA “Spray”

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Security is all about layers of protection. The more layers that are put in place the more secure you and your family will be. For example, if you lock your doors that is one layer, but not enough. A home security system which includes an alarm, security cameras and even signage are all additional layers of protection.

An axiom of the security professional is to “predict and prevent”. This means by having the foresight to visualize the possibilities of crime happening, how and why, will help that professional to prevent such a crime by putting the security layers in place.

Much of the security philosophy described here is meant to be proactive and deter or prevent a criminal from being successful. With that in mind, with the exception of high quality security cameras, security doesn’t often lend itself to catching the bad-guy after they have been successful in committing a crime.

Generally we leave the task of apprehending “evil doers” up to law enforcement officials who have a litany of procedures, processes, and tools meant to determine “who dunnit”.

A new security system using cutting edge liquid technology could significantly reduce theft from businesses traditionally seen by criminals as easy targets is “DNA Guardian” right now available in Australia through  ADT Security, is an all-in-one high tech crime fighting tool which establishes a forensic link between suspects and specific crime scenes. Similar systems used overseas have reduced theft by 84% and achieved a 100% conviction rate in court.* According to DNA Guardian, their system is involved in eliminating armed robberies in businesses which were repeatedly targeted.

Sign me up. I want this!!

In the meantime:

Be proactive with the help of ADT Pulse, a new interactive smart home solution that goes beyond traditional home security to provide a new level of control, accessibility and connection with the home.

• Arm and disarm your home security system.

• Get notified of alarms and selected events via email and text messages as well as video clips.

• View your home through cameras and watch secure real-time video or stored video clips of events from monitored areas of the home.

• Access lights and appliances or set schedules to automate them.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing  Home Security and Identity Theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.

Americans Waking Up to Social Media Privacy

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There have been thousands of privacy related news reports over the past year depicting social networks, Google, marketers and advertisers as evil privacy violators who are slowly sucking dry whatever privacy we have left. Facebook has been raked over the coals by advocates and watchdogs who say their tactics violate their own policies. In response, numerous lawsuits have been filed and government agencies have put the pressure on everyone involved to come up with a serious solution.

It is evident that without some type of government oversight that the “self policing” done by all those who stand to gain financially by selling our data will continue to spin out of control to the point where privacy will be something of the past.

My stance as a security professional has always been on the “privacy is dead, get over it” side of the fence. I’ve always been of the belief that the data out there is as a result of the public’s own doing and if they don’t want the world to know their private thoughts they shouldn’t post it.  As they say, “the cat is out of the bag”.

However, my concern is not that the self exposed private data is out for the world to see is a violation of a person’s privacy, but what can be done with the data to affect ones security position.

Now as a result of all this attention to privacy, in a recent study published in the Wall Street Journal, about 36% of American adults said they were “very concerned” about their privacy on social-networking sites in 2010, compared with 30% who felt that way last year. The shift was particularly noticeable among people over age 44; 50% of people age 54 to 64 described themselves as “very concerned,” compared with 32% who said that in 2009.

In response, the WSJ further reports The Obama administration is preparing a stepped-up approach to policing Internet privacy that calls for new laws and the creation of a new position to oversee the effort, according to people familiar with the situation.

This is definitely a good thing as the US significantly lags behind Canada and Europe among others in regards to privacy.

Certainly I care about privacy and wish there was more. But the fact remains that the fundamental issue that affects ones well being is security. Too much information leaked may damage ones social standing in some ways and if you don’t want it out there then don’t put it out there. And considering marketers and advertisers have taken it up a notch, they definitely need to be watched by the watchdogs. But in the end, what’s most important is how that data can be used to hurt or harm you.

Home Security Source

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Facebook Apps leaking data on Fox News.

18 Year Old Enters “Dumb Criminal Hall of Fame”

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There’s dumb criminals and then there is this kid.

A family was away from their home and had someone take care of some items around the house. Apparently the caretaker was doing some work on the exterior of the home and opened some shutters around a window and saw someone inside who wasn’t supposed to be there.

As soon as he realized it wasn’t a family member he called the police. And somehow the burglar was able to get out of the home and flee before law enforcement arrived.

When they entered the home to secure it they found a backpack, discarded food wrappers, a bag of pot, and soda cans. There was an open window adjacent to all the stuff where they determined that’s where he may have entered and exited.

So what does an 18 year old spend a lot of time doing (other than breaking into homes) he spends time on MySpace. And this kid logged onto the family’s home PC to his MySpace page. When he realized he was seen in the home he fled, forgetting to LOG OUT!!!!!!!!!

When the police looked at the computer they saw his stupid face above his dumb name (which happens to be “Robert”). With a current photo of him they were able to inform other officers on patrol and quickly saw him walking down a street equipped with burglary tools. He was arrested.

No offense to the homeowner, but they were no smarter leaving their home vulnerable to thieves with open windows, no alarm and a computer that didn’t have a password with administrative login requirements. At least lock all your windows, get a home security system and lock down your PC so it can’t be accessed.

Oh, and read this “Log Out, Log Out, I repeat, LOG OUT”.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.

What Security Issues Should You Worry About?

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First thing I tell my seminar attendees is “The chances of anything bad ever happening to you is very slim. So don’t worry about. However you should still put these systems in place.”

Are you a helicopter parent? An “alarmist”? Or Chicken Little: The sky is falling, the sky is falling! I heard somewhere along the line that 90% of what we worry about never happens. It might be even closer to 99%. But there is still that one percent that concerns.

Deciding what to worry about may be a conscious or unconscious (or sub-conscious) decision.

Often what we worry about comes from what we see and are fed in the media. It is well known that the nightly news is built on the premise “If it bleeds it leads”. Blood and guts is what sells airtime and newspapers.

These worries when confronted are often dumbed down by statisticians, researchers, some security professionals, social psychologists and are called “baseless paranoid fears”. Books written in this regard are designed to give perspective. My feeling is they are written simply to sell a contrarian idea to stimulate conversation (and sell books) and in reality the author is no less of a “worrier” than anyone else.

Perspective is good. Too much “worry” can have ill health affects and significantly detract from quality of life.

My gripe with the “Don’t worry, it’s a 1 in 10 million chance” mentality is that it fosters the “It can’t happen to me” syndrome which prevents people from taking responsibility for their security in the first place.

If you knew the statistical probability of the chances of your kid being shot at school or your child being kidnapped or even being struck by lightning and all were “slim”, would you take any less precaution to protect yourself or your family?

Would you stand next to a metal pole in a lightning storm? Would you drive without a seatbelt? Would you allow your 7 year old who is perfectly capable of navigating their way to school go by themselves even though the chance of them being kidnapped is extremely slim?

For many of the issues we worry about the chances of them happening might be 1 in a 100,000 or 1 in 10 million. Your chances of something bad happening may equate to the same statistics as winning the lottery, which is very slim, but you still might play the number.

Does it really matter what the odds are?

Every day someone somewhere wins the lottery. Every day someone somewhere is a victim of a heinous crime.

Knowing what I know I’m concerned about it all and I take the necessary steps to prevent what’s in my control. Do I worry?  Well, a part of my life’s energy goes into putting measures in place to prevent “bad”. If being proactive and taking responsibility is “worry” then yes. And I feel safe, secure and grounded without any nagging “paranoid” angst that detracts from the quality of life.

What’s so wrong with that?

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing home security and identity theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover.