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Browse every published article connected to Robert Siciliano, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Browse every published article connected to Robert Siciliano, or search within this exact expert archive.
There are things you should know before you purchase your next house—even if you foresee that being years away. Take note of what's in this article—and keep the notes where you'll never forget where they are.
Some of us remember college dorm days, when students were envied if they had their own typewriter. These days, college students must have a personal laptop computer, and a smartphone, and their lives revolve around these connected devices. Such dependency should be proactively protected from loss or theft. Campus security now means more than just being beware of who might be hiding in the bushes at night.
Beware of the B.E.C. scam, says a report at fbi.gov. The hackers target businesses and are good at getting what they want. The hackers first learn the name of a company's CEO or other key figure such as the company's lawyer or a vendor. They then figure out a way to make an e-mail, coming from them, appear to come from this CEO, and send it to employees.
Hackers are making a lot of money thanks to phishing attacks these days, and now they are also focusing on gift card scams. One of the most notorious scam groups, Scarlet Widow, which is out of Nigeria, has been boosting its efforts to scam people with gift cards since 2015. This group generally focuses on people in the UK and US and also is known for tax scams, romance scams, and rental cons.
Disgruntled employees act out in lots of ways. A guy I knew who hated his boss "played" on his work computer all day. The computer was strictly for constructing company graphics. But he installed all kinds of games and wasted lots of time. His boss never knew he blew off half the day.
#1. Keep everything up to date. You know those annoying popups telling you updates are available? Do you ever click out of them? Don't. Always update at the time these appear. #2. Two-step verification. Two-step verification or authentication should be set up for all your accounts that offer it. A unique one-time code is sent to the user's phone or via e-mail that must be entered in the login field.
It's tough being responsible sometimes. And managing responsibilities for what is precious in your life usually takes a little extra thought. Let's say you've just welcomed a beautiful set of triplets into the world. Lucky you . . . and lots to managed! But, you wouldn't give all these babies the same name simply to make it easier to remember, right?
It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, your home is at risk of being burglarized. According to numerous studies, in the US alone, a burglary occurs about once every 18 seconds, which equates to about 5,000 a day. Fortunately, you can secure your home or business against burglary, and it doesn't have to cost you a fortune. Here are 5 ways that you can get peace of mind on the cheap:
The season of giving is now upon us — but don't forget, it's also the season of stealing — and no, I don't mean your wallet or the gift package at your doorstep, but your Social Security number, credit card information, medical records and any other highly confidential information that you have stored on your computers.
Rule #1 for women traveling alone: Do not look or act like prey, as this will grab the attention of any predator nearby. Looking like non-prey may be difficult for some women, but one way is to dress in black. Black is the color of authority (e.g., judges, nuns, priests, referees, police officers). Here are more rules:
Worried about your teen causing a car accident from drinking too much? How about from being distracted too much? According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, distracted driving accounted for 58 percent of medium to severe wrecks involving teenagers, based on analysis of about 1,700 videos.
Though it would be nice to think that you can fix something if you make a mistake, there are some where there is just no going back. And in some cases, these mistakes can be tragic. Here are some of the biggest mistakes that people make with their home security:
Wow cool! A device that lets you know, via Internet, when your milk is beginning to sour! And a connected thermostat—turning the heat up remotely an hour before you get home to save money…and "smart" fitness monitors, baby monitors, watches…
Ever see those public bulletin boards with all the business cards on them? Don't be surprised if you spot one that says "Hacker • for • Hire." These are hackers who will, for a nice juicy fee, hack into your wife's Facebook account to see if she's cheating on you.
So, when you think about summer travel safety, what comes to mind? Which beach you'll be lounging on? Sunbu s? Shark attacks? While sunbu s and vacation plans are rational conce s most have when traveling during the summer, shark attacks are a new one.
Hah, that dual chamber deadbolt and the door jamb reinforcement! Yup, they're good at keeping thieves from getting to your jewelry box and stash of $100 bills, but what about your bank accounts and identity?
When it comes to tossing into the rubbish your old computer device, out of sight means out of mind, right? Well yeah, maybe to the user. But let's tack something onto that well-known mantra: Out of site, out of mind, into criminal's hands.
Are you getting a lot of scammy, spammy telemarketing calls? If you are, you know how annoying they can here. Fortunately, there are some apps out there that can help. Here are a few worth looking into: CallApp
One of my favorite commercials is a guy working out with his personal trainer. The trainer asks him if he's been eating his vegetables every day. When he replies, "When I can," the trainer bops him on the head. He could have had a V8!
The Russians have come…again—in the form of hackers. Not long ago Russian cyber criminals busted into the U.S.'s State Department system and mangled it for months.
We're told to change our passwords often to minimize getting hacked. Now we're told this is a bad thing. But not for any inherent techy reason. It's because frequent password changing makes many people lower their guard when it comes to creating new passwords.
Remember that song from 1984, "Somebody's watching me?" It was a great foreshadowing of things to come: These days, people really CAN watch you while you go about your business at home…through your computer. So if someone confides in you that "they're spying on me through my computer," don't be too quick to assume your friend went off his meds.
You might not realize it, but your electronic devices may be tracking you. They know what you are doing, what you are reading, and the things you like to do. In almost every case, you give these devices permission to collect this info when you start using them. Here are some tips to help you prevent your devices from spying on you: Laptops Macs
It’s one thing to bust into your kid’s diary and read it, but if your kids want the privilege of engaging in the cyber world, they need to understand that parents are justified in “spying” on them. Or are they? Depends on whom you ask and how far they go at “spying” on their kids.
Maybe you don't mind the ads for that bicycle rack following you around in cyberspace after you visited a site for all things bike, but browser trackers ("cookies") also create a profile of you that gets sold to other advertisers and third parties.
How dumb can air travelers be, trying to get guns past the TSA? Duhh, don't they know that the X-ray equipment or pat-downs will detect them? Just last year, over 2,600 guns were detected. More than 80 percent of these guns were loaded. Talk about the world's dumbest criminals.
How does my mobile phone know I like tools, electronic gadgets and tarantulas? It keeps showing me ads for these products! Christmas is coming and my kids like bugs, big bugs. How does it know? It's called "supercookies". And they aren't yummy.
It'll get worse before it gets better: online data safety. It's amazing how many people think they're "safe" online, while one huge business or entity after another keeps getting hacked to the bone.
If you don't want your smartphone to know more about you than you do, here are top choices, as detailed on gizmodo.com: BlackPhone 2
You know who really loves that ever-so-annoying "fall back" time change November 1? Burglars. Because it gives them an earlier start on their criminal activities because they love to work in the dark. And burglars get busier as daylight becomes shorter and the holiday season nears.
You worry about being hacked, but what about being tracked? Yes, there are hackers and then there are trackers. Internet tracking namely refers to the user's browsing habits being followed. But there are ways to make the trackers harder to tag behind you.
A shocking study by the National Associated for Information Destruction has revealed some terrifying information: 40% of electronic devices found on the second-hand market contains personal information. This information includes use ames and passwords, personal information, credit card numbers, and even tax information. Tablets were the most affected, with 50% of them containing this sensitive information, while 44% of hard drives contained the info.
Someone else might file your taxes if you don't get to it. And they won't be doing it as a favor; they'll be doing it to steal your identity. Here's how it works:
The words "spying" and "stalking" have negative connotations, but there's a flipside to the coin: parents monitoring their kids' online activities and physical locations. And how about middle-aged adults keeping track of the whereabouts of their aged parents with dementia?
What is a credit freeze? It's an action you take to lock down your credit report. A lender can't see your score, which means your Social Security number and credit rating is useless to them. In other words, they can't tell if you are risky or not.
According to a new study, genetics and evolution have made an impact on the murderous behavior of the human species. However, becoming civilized has tamed some of these instincts.
USPSID stands for U.S. Postal Service Informed Delivery. It is a good thing to sign up for because it informs you of your expected deliveries. But there's a problem: Someone ELSE could pose as you and sign up for this service, getting your mail before you have a chance to. In fact, it has already happened. Crooks have signed up as other address owners and collected their mail.
According to statistics, those who are 50-years old and older, like 65-85, are often targets of identity thieves. The bad guys have no issue taking advantage of your parents. They violate their trust, and understand that they are often naïve about the internet and scammy phone callls. Cyber criminals also know that older people have retirement money and more savings, and this money is ready for them to take. Here are some of the common scams that the bad guys use:
Jack "Superthief" MacLean MacLean stole in excess of $133 million in jewels, having robbed thousands of homes. By the time police nabbed him he was the owner of a helicopter and multi-million dollar mansion. His genius IQ failed to avoid his capture, but nevertheless, he was smart enough to have a police scanner with him during crimes.
Yes, it's possible: preventing fraudsters from getting you via online trickery and other stealthy actions. Yes, it's possible to be thinking one step ahead of cyber criminals. Let's begin with e-mails—the conduit through which so many cyber crimes like ID theft occur.
You have the best IT security, but dang it…the bad guys keep getting in. This means someone inside your house keeps opening the back door and letting the thieves slip inside. You have to find out who this enabler in your company is, and it may be more than one.
Sell something called "SuperParent" or even the actual FlexiSpy — and all is swell. Frankly, I'm not opposed to monitoring a child's phone, kids shouldn't have phones anyways. But sell something called "iStalk" or "StalkU," well … this won't quite go over well with the authorities or the general community.
Remember the good 'ol days when you thought of a finger pushing a button that launched a Russian missile that then sped at seven miles per second towards the U.S. to blow it up? Little did we know back then what would one day be a way for the Superpowers to war on each other: cyber technology!
Gone is the day when, while out on a romantic evening with your special someone, you suddenly realize you forgot to turn on your house alarm. You spend the rest of the long evening fretting about this.
Hackers and wannabe hackers can easily purchase cheap tools of the trade online. The security firm Dell SecureWorks Inc. confirms this in their latest report and adds that underground markets for hackers, including those from Russia, is thriving.
You have likely heard of the dangers of using unsecure public Wi-Fi, so you know that hackers are out there snooping. It is pretty easy to hack into a laptop or mobile device that is on a public Wi-Fi connection with no protection. Hackers can read your emails, steal passwords, and even hijack your website log ins.
Teenagers across the country are falling into drug dealing, theft, and prostitution in order to eat. This, according to a recent study, which found that poverty has been increasing throughout the U.S.
There is a new Social Security scam in the news, and you should definitely know about it. The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, released a statement that warns people of this new scheme. Basically, scammers are impersonating Social Security Administration employees.
There was a time when online dating was a novelty, perceived as unsafe. Today, 59 percent of people agree that online dating is a good way to meet others (Pew Research, 2015). In fact, it's the preferred method of matchmaking. A different online environment with similar views from the public is working from home. People who want to work at home fear its safety and security, understandably. But working from home is already a safe and secure proposition as far as finding a job and creating a safe environment in your home.