Two of the most important rules for keeping accounts secure are to have long, complex passwords and to use a different password for each account. But how can consumers possibly hope to remember 10, 20 or more complicated password and user name combinations? One way is to use a password manager.
It is almost as if advertisers can read your mind! You were comparing prices on refrigerators, and now every site you visit shows advertisements for the very refrigerator you were looking at. How do they know? They know because you were tracked. Advertisers and media companies use tools including cookies…
Virtual Reality (VR) is an exciting technology. More than simply entertainment, VR is being used for applications in education, medicine and more. For example, VR is being used to treat PTSD in military veterans. Along with the benefits of VR come risks, though. The risks tend to fall into three broad categories: physical…
It is important to take precautions against downloading malware to your mobile device, but technology company CheckPoint.com discovered 36 Android devices that had been infected with malware before the users received them. According to CheckPoint, the malware programs included, “info-stealers, rough ad networks and a mobile ransomware.” This article will…
So-called “fake news” got a lot of attention during the 2016 election cycle, but it isn’t limited to political news. Anyone who uses social networks such as Facebook is likely to be familiar with the sensationalized headlines about celebrity deaths and scandals that are designed to get users to click,…
Quick quiz: Which password is more secure, ieatkale88 or iloveyou88? Most people might think both passwords would have the same level of security. Both have the same number of characters, both use numbers, but a study by Carnegie Mellon researchers revealed that one would take a billion times as many…
Keeping your family safe is a high priority, but it is not always clear how to do so. We will discuss how your family’s safety and security may be compromised online, what you can do to keep yourself and your children safe, and how to deal with cyberbullies, catfishers and…
It seems that every retailer, online and offline, has an app they want shoppers to download and use, promising savings and deals to shoppers in return. Scammers have noticed the popularity of retail apps and they are taking advantage of it by flooding the app stores with fake apps for…
Federal authorities announced in October 2016 that they had shut down a large call center operation that had scammed hundreds of millions of dollars from Americans. According to the Wall Street Journal, an 81-page indictment named 56 people in the U.S. and India and five call centers in India. They…
If you are accustomed to using your smart phone with your own car, you may not think twice about connecting it to a “smart” rental car with an infotainment system. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that connecting to a rental car, even just to charge the phone, may…
Storing personal data in the cloud using Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Dropbox and other services has many advantages, but it also comes with risks. You can access your files from almost anywhere, but are they also more vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors?
The good news for taxpayers is that the Internal Revenue Service and private companies are making changes that are successfully thwarting tax fraudsters. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen reported that the number of people who reported being victims of tax identity theft was down more than 50% through the first nine…
In October 2016, hackers exploited unsecure networks and used webcams, DVRs and other Internet-connected devices to launch a massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that brought down nearly 80 websites including Netflix, CNN and Pinterest.
Just as your Social Security Number and other personal information can be used to steal your identity, your car’s Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) can be stolen in order to “clone” your car.