The Federal Trade Commission reports that for the last three years romance scams have taken more money from victims than any other fraud. The scams typically originate in dating apps or on social media, and they end after the victim has sent money, often thousands of dollars, to the scammer.…
The term malware describes any types of software that is intended to cause harm. It includes viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware and ransomware. The effects can range from mischievous to devastating, and malware can be found on computers, tablets, phones, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including “smart” devices such as…
Unlike cash, you can’t hold cryptocurrency in your hand and it isn’t backed by any government. It only exists in bits and bytes on computers. Nonetheless, cryptocurrency is a hot topic and it is drawing a lot of investors. Bitcoin is perhaps the best known of many types of crypto.…
The 2017 breach of the Equifax credit bureau exposed the personal information of 147 million consumers. Although that may be the best-known credit bureau security breach, it is certainly not the only one – or even the latest one. In fact, the credit bureaus still have a surprising number of…
Ransomware attacks increased by 485% from 2019 to 2020, with nearly two-thirds of 2020 attacks occurring in the first half of the year. As with other malware, ransomware has become more sophisticated over time, and is now better able to do its damage. Even though individuals may be hit with…
How many emails do you receive in a typical day? If you are like most people, the answer is probably, “Too many!” Some are emails you want, others you no longer find useful and some are just plain spam. Obviously, the ones you want to receive are not a problem,…
Convenient medical exams, advice, diagnoses and even treatment are all being accessed remotely and safely. Yet costly insurance scams can steal patients’ identities and defraud their insurance policies. Bogus telemedicine sessions for illicit profits also can damage a patient’s health. We will discuss the potential downside of the otherwise positive…
VWO.com defines push notifications as “clickable pop-up messages that appear on your users’ browsers irrespective of which device they use or which browser they are on.” You may choose to allow push notifications from websites or apps you use regularly to keep you informed of news and updates that you…
Do you use a color laser printer in your home or office? If so, it almost certainly adds identifying code to all of your documents telling the date and time a document was printed along with the printer’s serial number. How does it work? In one method, the printers add…
Amazon has detailed records of the information you have provided about yourself over the years. Although there isn’t one master list of all of the data Amazon has accumulated about you, it is possible to find it all. Use this guide compiled by CNBC to find out what Amazon knows…
Intertrust Technologies released a report showing that of the 100 health apps they studied: 71% of tested health apps have at least one high level security vulnerability that can be easily exploited and has the potential for serious damage The vast majority of health apps (91%) have mishandled/weak encryption which…
It is bad enough when an account is breached, but what if that account controls network security for thousands of customers, and potentially thousands of their customers as well? Orion software, used by 33,000 organizations to manage their IT resources, was compromised by hackers, giving the criminals access to install…
With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, you know that scammers and their dirty tricks won’t be far behind. As with many scams, the bad guys are after both your money and your personal information. Along with claiming to sell early access to vaccines and saying that you are required to…
The landscape of cyberthreats is constantly changing. We will talk with a cybersecurity expert to learn what we can expect the greatest threats to be in 2021, the effects COVID-19 will continue to have on security and what consumers need to know to protect themselves and their families from the…