It’s almost Cyber Monday, so tell me something – why do you shop online? Because it’s super convenient! Or because you get better pricing? Maybe it’s because you’re allergic to hand-to-hand combat on Black Friday? I’m a huge fan of shopping online to save time, money and brain cells. But if you have bad surfing hygiene, you’re just asking identity thieves to go on a shopping spree with your money. And it’s so easy to avoid if you know how. Which you’re about to.
Thanks for joining me here on Sileo on Security, where we believe there’s no need to fear online shopping if you surf wisely. I want to share nine habits with you over the next three episodes that will keep your digital shopping cart safer than the real thing.
Ransomware: A Vital Course on the Next Big Cyber Threat
Ransomware is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: it holds your computer or mobile phone hostage and blackmails you into paying a ransom. It is a type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their system and forces its victims to pay the ransom through certain online payment methods in order to grant access to their systems or to get their data back.
It’s been around since about 2005, but earlier this year, the FBI issued an alert warning that all types of ransomware are on the rise. Individuals, businesses, government agencies, academic institutions, and even law enforcement agents have all been victims.
Apple vs FBI: Building a backdoor into the iPhone is like burning the haystack…
I’ve been asked almost 100 times since Apple rejected the FBI’s request to break into the iPhone of the San Bernadino killers on which side I support. I am a firm believer that the most complex problems (this is one of them) deserve the simplest explanations. Here is the simplest way that I can walk you through the argument:
If your immediate response, like many, is to side with Apple – “Don’t hack into your own operating system, it set’s a bad precedent” – then you have a good strong natural reflex when it comes to privacy. But don’t stop your thinking after your first reaction or thought, as it might be incomplete, because…
Come on, admit it. Don’t you feel just a little satisfaction watching 37 million adulterers exposed in the Ashley Madison hack? “They do kind of deserve to be cheated just a bit for being cheaters,” someone in one of my keynote speeches commented.
In this case, the hackers weren’t seeking money, they were seeking revenge. Their goal was to get Ashley Madison to shut down the site because they said it wasn’t living up to it’s own privacy policy (they weren’t). But to side with the hackers is a bit like saying it’s okay to pepper spray customers to keep them from going into a store you’re morally opposed to. In other words, be careful when you condone the use of customers as pawns to fuel change. You just might be the next customer to become a victim, and your data could be just as sensitive (your medical records, divorce proceedings, kids’ geographical location or your online video viewing habits).
Home Depot Data Breach Exposes Our Growing Complacency
When Target suffered a data breach back in December of 2013, you couldn’t look at a news source without seeing a new story about it. Yet when the Home Depot data breach was revealed recently, it received almost a ho-hum reception in the news. This, even though, it was the biggest data breach in retailing history and has compromised 56 million of its customers’ credit cards! It seems we have come to expect these data breaches to the point where we have become almost complacent.
Consumers, like the companies that breach our data, have become apocalyptic zombies, staring unquestioningly forward as we are attacked from all sides.
Register Now for Deluxe/Sileo’s Free Cyber Security Webinar
On October 3, 2013 at 1pm ET, Deluxe and data privacy expert John Sileo will present a FREE Cyber Security Webinar – What You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know.
A 2012 survey by the highly respected Ponemon Institute found that 55% of small businesses had experienced at least one data breach in 2012. At the heart of this massive data loss is lax cyber security:an overly broad term that will no longer intimidate you after this webinar. Technology has evolved so quickly that many businesses and individuals find themselves behind the digital curve and overwhelmed by the prospect of protecting the very data that underlies their wealth. While in this state, decision makers tend to shut down, make excuses and assume that there is no reasonable, inexpensive way to protect themselves and their business. That assumption is not only wrong, it is dangerous.
NSA Surveillance includes the collection of your phone and email records for the sake of detecting and disrupting terrorism. The practice has proven effective, but the scope of the data collected (every phone call and email available, even if you are innocent) has raised eyebrows.
Congress, in a rare show of bipartisan agreement, may be leaning toward limiting the amount of data the NSA can collect.
Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., backed by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., put forth an amendment that would restrict the NSA’s ability to collect data under the Patriot Act on people not connected to an ongoing investigation. The action was initiated after Edward Snowden, a government contract worker, leaked highly classified data to the media, revealing that the NSA has secretly collected phone and email records on millions of Americans without their knowledge or consent.
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