Browse published articles attributed to Robert Siciliano, with full-archive search.
"You can buy things with your phone!" No kidding! But imagine what the response would have been had you made this statement in 1984: "Off your meds, eh?" Purchasing via the smartphone may very well eclipse the popularity of shopping via laptop. And cyber thieves know this. They're counting on you to slip up.
If you've ever watched virtually any spy flick or James Bond movie you're familiar with "bugs" - those little dime-sized metallic things that the bad guys would secretly stick under someone's desk to record any conversation in the room—picked up by a receiver in their car. Or, the phone was "tapped" - the device was inside the receiver.
Criminals use six basic principles to influence and steal. In the first post we discussed:
Privacy used to mean changing clothes behind a partition. Nowadays, say "privacy" and people are likely to think in terms of cyberspace. Stay connected, and you risk losing your privacy.
What's going on this September? National Preparedness Month. This will be the time to increase your awareness of the safety of your business, family, pets and community. During disasters, communication is key. National Preparedness Month concludes on September 30 with the National PrepareAthon! Day.
Gone are the days when social media is only used to share what you had for dinner or announcing to the world that you are headed to the gym. But social media has become a platform for any and everyone to say what's on their mind, and sometimes that's great, but all too often it isn't. Social is significantly lacking in decorum. But at least some are using social for good.
You will love the Tri-Band WiFi technology; it can connect all of your devices at the same time. The only router capable of this is the Netgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Router (a.k.a. Netgear R8000).
It's hard to believe that, according to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center, most Americans aren't too upset that the government can track their e-mails and phone calls. There's too much of a blasé attitude, it seems, with people thinking, "I don't care if I'm monitored; I have nothing to hide."
If you're planning a lengthy road trip, there are many things you'd never think to bring with you that could get you out of a crisis situation. You need way more than just that blanket in the trunk, car jack and spare tire, umbrella, rainproof poncho, utility tool and fire extinguisher. Weather
What do you really know about water storage? Below you'll find information that you probably never even thought of before, or information that contradicts what you've always believed to be correct.
Myth: Most burglaries occur at night when nobody can see the intruder. Fact: Most burglaries occur during the day because criminals know that's the most likely time that people are away at work. Myth: Most burglaries are random and spontaneous. Fact: Most burglaries occur after the thief has "cased" a residence and pre-meditated an intrusion and getaway plan.
Years ago, having "the talk" with your kids meant telling them where babies come from. Nowadays, "the talk" has a whole new meaning. Your kids may be able to explain in detail how a baby is created, but may be clueless (because so many adults are) about something called "data permanence."
"Survivor." What comes to mind when you see or hear this word? A victim of a disease or of a perverted crime? A TV show? We're all survivors in that every day, we do something to stay alive—life-saving things we don't even think about as life-saving, such as eating healthy and exercising. People die every day from killing themselves with food.
Ever peruse Craigslist for a new home? Nothing against Craigslist for doing that, but that's where Coty Houston and David Yost happened to find a very alluring four-bed home for sale; looked perfect for their five young kids.
Who needs guns, threatening notes to rob a bank when you can do it with just your fingertips inside your home? A hacking ring in the eastern portion of Europe may be the most successful team of bank robbers to date, having purportedly robbed $1 billion from multiple banks. This can only be done by infecting computers with malicious software (malware) and sucking out all the money.
One of mankind's greatest inventions (besides the wheel) is the Internet. Unfortunately, with this marvelous invention comes the drawback of privacy—or shall we say, lack of.
Danny Wheeler was alerted by his smartphone that had a home security app and a do it yourself camera/home security system that his home was being robbed. He was at work and could do nothing but send the real time video to New York City police, reports a story on abcnews.go.com. The burglars got away, however, by the time the place was swarming with police.
No bones about it, 2016 is sure to see some spectacular, news-chomping data breaches, predicts many in infosec. If you thought 2015 was interesting, get your seatbelt and helmet on and prepare for lift off… Wearable Devices
Do you know what ATM stands for? For crooks, it stands for A Thief's Moneymaker. A new report from FICO says that "skimming" crimes have made their biggest spike in the past 20 years. This includes ATMs on bank premises, but of course, public ATM kiosks have seen the biggest spike.
Question: No. 1 reason people get a home security system? Answer: Recently burglarized; The majority of the people I hear from who want to install a home security system were recently burglarized. It often takes adversity or even tragedy for us to wake up to the realities of a harsh world.
It's easy to scam someone who did something wrong by telling them they need to fix their mistake. This is why thousands of people get scammed into paying back taxes to the IRS—the IRS has nothing to do with these scams, of course, but the predators prey on peoples' fear of Uncle Sam. It all begins with the fraudster making a phone call, pretending to be an IRS employee.
Situations that could put your routine or an entire city on hold include: - Tornado - Hurricane - Flood - Blizzard - Power outage - Contagious illness Your house should already be equipped with supplies for staying inside the house for at least a week, but ideally for two weeks.
It can be tough being a responsible adult sometimes, and managing these responsibilities isn't always a chore that I want to deal with. Can you relate? Managing life takes focus and effort, and managing your online life is no different. Most of us are lazy with our online accounts, especially when it comes to our passwords. It is easy to use the same password for every account, but this also makes it very easy for hackers to access your passwords.
When you subscribe to an online service, be careful of how much information you give out about yourself.
How would you like a home security system that's also your personal assistant? Angee Inc., a new company out of San Francisco, knows you'd like one. Features of the Angee Device
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.
Bottom line: If you have a data security policy in place, you need to make sure that it's up to date and contains all of the necessary elements to make it effective. Here are 10 essential items that should be incorporated into all security policies: 1. Manage employee email
"I had my earphones in and didn't know he was there until he threw me to the ground," says Taela Davis, 25, of Australia in a heraldsun.com article.
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.
You're sitting on your front porch. You see a stranger walking towards your property. You have no idea whom he is. But he's nicely dressed. He asks to come inside your house and look through your bank account records, view your checkbook routing number and account number, and jot down the 16-digit numbers of your credit cards. Hey, he also wants to write down all your passwords. You say, "Sure! Come on in!"
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement has in some ways saved companies money, but in other ways put customer data at risk. Employees are onsite, telecommuting or traveling on business. This means their devices, and company data could be anywhere at any given moment.
You need not be a celebrity or some big wig to suffer the devastating fallout of your online images (and videos) being stolen or used without your permission. So how does someone steal your image or use it without your permission? Hacking
A study published in Nature shows us that both evolution and genetics have made a big impact on the behavior of humans…including in the case of murder. However, as we have become more civilized, these instincts have been muted.
A bug bounty refers to the reward a bad-guy hacker gets upon discovering a vulnerability, weakness or flaw in a company's system. This is akin to giving a reward to a burglar for pointing out weaknesses in your home's security. But whom better to ask than a burglar, right? Same with a company's computer systems: The best expert may be the black hat or better, white hat hacker.
Hackers know small companies are more vulnerable to data breaches due to limited resources. Cybersecurity should always be a high priority. But when a company's IT staff consists of maybe 1-2 people who are provided limited budgets and are constantly solving other tech problems, the focus on security suffers. And hackers aren't the only problem. One significantly overlooked part of the security process "cleaning" the IT infrastructure.
Curl up in a chair at your favorite coffee house, the aroma of premium coffee filling the air, take a few sips of your 700 calorie latte, and then enter cyberspace. Little do you know that you could have a stalker. Or two. Or 3,000. Because public Wi-Fi is there for the picking for hackers. Online transmissions can be intercepted. The credit card number that you enter onto that retailer's site can be "seen."
These days, who doesn't travel with their laptop? But commonality doesn't make it inherently safe for your sensitive information that's stored in the device. In fact, traveling with your laptop is inherently unsecure. Whether you're traveling for business or to visit family this holiday season, here are some ways to protect your laptop and your personal data:
What goes on in the home life of a 14-year-old girl such that she feels there's nothing better to do than send nude photos of herself to a man whom she's been corresponding with online? Though this goes well-beyond the parents not bothering to find out what their kids do online, another huge issue is the proliferation of online predators.
"My house was hacked!" Had you said this 25 years ago, people would have thought a burglar vandalized it with an axe. Say it today and nearly everybody will know what you mean: A thief or prankster "broke" in to your house via its connected-to-the-Inte et gadgets.
In the event of an attack, new smartphone applications can be used to send an alarm to a pre-chosen person. And the potential victims location can then be tracked. But is this faster and more secure than a woman whipping out pepper spray and blasting a drunken buffoon who has her cornered in a parking garage at night? No.
Maybe you believe that kids should not have smartphones because the devices can tell a pedophile where a child is located. But there's other reasons that perhaps you haven't thought of: cyberbullying, violent porn, online drug purchases, you name it.
Those were the days when all parents had to worry about was the creepy guy lurking near the playground. Now parents have to worry about creeps all over the world reaching their kids via computer. And there's more to worry about. Here's what to teach your kids:
Your child is active online. Did it ever occur to you that he or she uses a fake name so that they can't be identified by you? Chances are, you, the parent, also uses a pseudonym. It's very common. Cyberspace is full of obvious pseudonyms, but a phony name can also be a regular name that many people have. Your child will be lost in a sea of David Johnsons or Amanda Millers.
You have a master password, from your password manager, for 28 accounts. Life has been so easy since! But then you lose this master password. First off, you can't fix this like you would if you forgot your password for PayPal or your credit card's site. Plus, each password manager service has a different solution.
When it comes to online security, don't let your guard down just because the holiday shopping frenzy has passed. In fact, this may be the very time to put your guard up even higher. Though it's smart to have your radar on for the scammers during the holidays, the scammers don't exactly go slithering back under their slimy rocks once the New Year is here. So here's how to be safe online during, and after, the holiday season.
Want to earn up to $4.2 million? Then find the hackers on the FBI's most wanted list. Or at least give the FBI information leading to their arrest and/or conviction. These snakes have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars. Here is the list from the hacke ews.com: Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev (reward: $3 million)
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.
As the holiday season creeps upon us, research shows that an astonishing 24% people who are buying online have been duped by scammers. Whether you are buying shoes, electronics or the latest fashions and accessories, research companies are showing that you are at risk of being duped.
Who has time to think about identity protection when planning a wedding? And why, for that matter? Well, there's good reason: Marriage begets a change in identities. The months preceding the big day should be when the couple starts taking action to avoid identity theft.