How sure are you that your company’s computers aren’t being used against you for purposes of fraud and identity theft?
Recently, Bloomberg.com reported a case in which Microsoft and the antivirus company Symantec joined forces to take down a massive botnet group. Known as Bamital, this ill-intentioned family of bugs is believed to originate from somewhere in Eastern Europe, and operated by distributing malicious software to unsuspecting computers. Once the targets had been infected, the hackers on the other end could take control of Web browsers and drive them wherever they wanted, re-routing searches and addresses to dubious websites that could infect them further.
According to the article, at least a quarter of a million computers were hit in this most recent attack. Globally, Bamital’svictims are reckoned to number in the millions.
Let’s start with a tip today. If you fire your company’s social media manager, you might want to disable their access to the business’ official Twitter account first – and every other social media platform, too.
British company HMV learned that lesson the hard way when an employee live-tweeted her firing. Here are some of the tweets she sent out from the company’s Twitter handle before her access was shut off:
“We’re tweeting live from HR where we’re all being fired! Exciting!!!”
“There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution of loyal employees who love the brand. #hmvXFactorFiring”
In another amusing twist – amusing at least to everyone but HMV management – the employee tweeted that she overheard the company’s marketing director ask “How do I shut down Twitter?”.
It took getting bit in public, but the President has finally taken a firm stance on online privacy protection with a brand new initiative.
Only weeks ago cyber hackers attacked the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and a bevy of massive corporate behemoths. Taking over their systems was a bit like taking candy from a candy factory (China manufacturers much of the security infrastructure that’s used to keep the bad guys out – so there are lots of back doors when they want to dip into the cookie jar).
In the past, certain pieces of proposed anti-piracy legislation like SOPA and CISPA have come under fire for being too restrictive and allowing private entities too much access to personal data. President Obama has expressed disapproval for those acts in the past, and in his State of the Union address Tuesday, he finally announced a cyber security executive order aimed at securing America’s infrastructure. Thank the gods of security that he is finally taking charge.
Watch the entire Browser Spies Online Privacy series. To view the entire series, wait until the end of each video and click on the Next Video button in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. As you watch each short video in your browser, make the necessary changes based on each simple video tip on protecting your online identity and privacy.
Browser privacy expert John Sileo and Fox & Friends have teamed up to educate consumers on how your surfing habits are being intercepted, collected and sold as you browse the Web. These tips give you more control over your Internet Privacy in short, easy to implement tips. Privacy exposure, browser tracking and constant data surveillance are a reality of the digital economy. It’s important to defend your data privacy before it’s too late.
How secure do you think your email really is? Would you be surprised to learn that your inbox is scanned regularly, and not just by you?
Microsoft recently launched its humorously titled “Don’t Get Scroogled by Gmail” media campaign. The company commissioned a study that showed that 70 percent of consumers are unaware that free email service providers, such as Google, routinely scan their emails for information that allows them to deliver targeted advertisements.
Furthermore, 88 percent of respondents said they were opposed to this practice once they became aware of it. Now yes, Microsoft has an ulterior motive here. They’re not so much dedicated to your privacy as they are looking to convince users to switch from Gmail to Outlook. Let’s also not forget that Microsoft has long offered its own free email service, the all-but-forgotten Hotmail.
Google quickly responded to the media campaign taking swipes at Gmail with a statement of its own.
Okay. All former presidents of the United States whose family members had their email accounts hacked recently, step forward.
That’s right. It was reported late last week that relatives and close friends of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, the 41st and 43rd commanders-in-chief, respectively, have fallen victim to a cyber attack. Pictures and private correspondence between families members were stolen and posted online for all to see, including apparent self-portraits painted of George W. while bathing and a letter about planning funeral arrangements for his father (who is still alive). Tell me how much you’d like it if your “artwork” showed up online for the world to see.
“Ah, but it was the former President of the United States that was targeted, not a lowly voter like me,” you say. And in that statement lies the greatest risk of all – complacency. “I’m too small to target,” or “I don’t have enough money or power to target.”. You are wrong, and your attitude will come back to haunt you.
Earlier this week the Feds cracked down on one of the largest credit car theft rings ever. The ring created 7,000 false identities to obtain 25,000 credit cards. Then they ran the scam through real businesses in on the whole thing, in addition to 80 bogus companies using more than 1,800 addresses, according to the FBI.
Through a series of identity theft and fraudulent actions, they were swimming in the hard-earned cash of millions of other people and business owners like Scrooge McDuck did backstrokes in piles of gold.
“This is, as far as we can tell, one of the largest, if not the largest, credit card fraud cases ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said at a news conference earlier this week in Newark, New Jersey. “We have already documented losses of $200 million, and that number could quite well go higher.”
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