If your child spends most of their free time alone with their computer, seems to know more than they should about other family members, has multiple accounts you cannot access and their computer is full of encrypted files, they may be a talented computer whiz kid with a bright future…
Hacking group The Shadow Brokers has leaked more than a gigabyte worth of weaponized software exploits stolen from the United States National Security Agency (NSA). This toolkit gives anyone, even those without sophisticated technical knowledge, the technology to potentially compromise systems around the world. The Shadow Brokers had attempted to…
Anyone who watches police procedurals on television is aware that law enforcement often uses data from cell phones and electronic toll tags to verify a suspect’s movements and actions. With the advent of smart devices there is much more data available, and law enforcement is using it to help identify…
In a typical phishing attack, users are tricked into keying in their passwords or other sensitive data on fake websites. However, the recent Google Docs phishing scam used OAuth, meaning that users didn’t have to enter any information to give the bad guys access to their email accounts. What is…
The letter seems to promise good news. It says the state is holding money that belongs to you, and all you have to do to claim it is send your personal information or pay a fee. Although it appears to be legitimate, the letter may be from fraudsters looking to…
“We are tracking our children’s every move, and they can feel it,” says lawyer and educator Elizabeth Small in the Washington Post. Small’s concern is that children do not have a space that is private, where every moment of their lives is not monitored and shared by parents, teachers and…
Ransomware is malicious software that blocks access to files on a device or a network until a cash ransom is paid. It can happen to any system in an instant, and both businesses and consumers have been attacked. In this interview, we discuss what ransomware is and how it gets…
Social media is helpful for keeping up with friends and family members, but it is also useful for scammers who want to take advantage of our friends and family members. The way this type of scam typically works is that the bad guy sets up a profile using a real…
The introduction of chip cards, also known as EMV cards (named for the three companies that developed the standard: Europay, MasterCard and Visa), was supposed to curtail fraudulent credit card use; however, credit card fraud losses in the U.S. have actually increased since their introduction. In this article, we will…
There are many dangers to data security that business and leisure travelers face. This article will discuss three problems related to data security and how consumers can protect themselves: The physical peril of a device being lost or stolen. The vulnerability of having data intercepted via an unsecure connection. The…
Criminals do not stand still and they are always looking for new ways to defraud their victims. We will hear from an expert about what to expect from the fraudsters in 2017.
“Someone has your password.” Those four words, in an email claiming to be from “The Gmail Team,” set off a series of events that led to the hacking and leaking of private emails sent to and from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The email was sent as part of a spear phishing attack…
In December 2016, Yahoo announced what is believed to be the largest ever breach of an email provider. Data associated with more than one billion user accounts was stolen in August 2013 but the theft was only recently discovered. That means that the hackers had more than three years to use…
Minutes count when a child is missing. When parents have the information needed by law enforcement at their fingertips, the search can begin immediately. That is one reason that having a Child Identification Kit (Child ID Kit) is important. A Child ID Kit includes a physical description of the child,…