Posts

Do Not take that Stupid Facebook Quiz

/0 Comments/in /by

Where should you live in the world? What Game of Thrones family are you in? What is the food that best describes your personality? All of these answers are given and found by doing quizzes on Facebook. You have surely seen them if you use Facebook, and have may have taken these quizzes, but you definitely might want to consider stopping. If you have ever used one of these quizzes, you have probably given these third-party apps permission to access some of your personal data. Not only does this affect you, it might also affect the people on your friends list. How does it affect you? These answers can sometimes crack password reset questions,

Here are some tips that you can use to protect yourself:

Use Two-Factor Authentication – Almost all social media sites offer two-factor authentication. This allows you to further lockdown your accounts, as you won’t be able to sign in with only a password. Instead, you need a password and a code, which is often sent to you via text message. So, no one can log into your account even if they have your password, unless they also have access to your phone and texts.

Stop Taking Quizzes – The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to stop taking those quizzes. Though they look innocent enough, every click gives the company information on you. It’s true that not all companies collect your personal info, but you really have to do some digging in the terms of service to see if they do or not.

Check Your Privacy Settings – When is the last time you reviewed your privacy settings on Facebook? If you are like most of us, it’s probably been awhile. So, take some time to log in and do this. If you need a tip, choose to only share with yourself by clicking “Only Me” on all of the settings. That’s the safest, but after all, this is SOCIAL media, so you might want to pick and choose.

Look at What You Share – You should also look in your app security to find out what you are sharing with third-parties. You might be surprised at what you see.

Delete Old Accounts – Finally, make sure that you take a look at, and delete, any old social media accounts. If you don’t want to delete it, at a minimum, change your password. Also, Google yourself and see what accounts come up. If you can find it, you can bet that a hacker can.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of Identity Theft Privacy: Security Protection and Fraud Prevention: Your Guide to Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft and Computer Fraud. See him knock’em dead in this Security Awareness Training video.

10 most dangerous Facebook Scams

/in /by

Twenty percent of the world’s population is “on” Facebook—that’s well over a billion people.

14DTop 10 Most Popular Facebook Scams

  1. Profile visitor stats. It’s all about vanity. It doesn’t take long for any new Facebook user to see an ad offering to reveal how many people are viewing your profile. You can even find out who’s viewing. It must make a lot of FB users feel validated to know how many people are viewing them and just whom, because this scam comes in at the top.

    Is it really that important to know how many people are viewing your profile? Even if your self-worth depends on this information, Facebook can’t provide it. These ads are scams by hackers.

  2. Rihanna sex tape. What a sorry life someone must be leading to be lured into clicking a link that promises a video of a recording star having sex. Don’t click on any Rihanna sex tape link, because the only intimacy you’ll ultimately witness is a hacker getting into your computer.
  3. Change your profile color. Don’t click on anything that relates to changing your FB profile color. Facebook is blue. Get over it. You’ll never get red, purple, pink, black, grey, white, red, orange or brownish-magenta. Forget it. Deal. If you see this offering in your news feed, ignore it. It’s a scam.
  4. Free Facebook tee shirt. Though this offering seems quite innocuous, anyone who never rushes to click things will realize that this can’t possibly be legitimate. Do you realize how much a billion tee shirts cost? Even if you don’t know that one-fifth the world’s population uses Facebook, you should know that an enormous number of people use it and they aren’t getting a t-shirt.
    1. Where would Facebook get the money to 1) produce all those tee shirts (even if one-tenth of FB users wanted one, that’s still a LOT of money), and 2) mail the shirts out, and 3) pay reams of people to package the shirts and address the packages? People, THINK before you click!
  5. See your top 10 Facebook stalkers. This is just so funny, how can anyone take it seriously and be lured into clicking it?
  6. Free giveaways. It’s cliché time: Nothing’s free in this world—certainly not on Facebook. End of story.
  7. See if a friend has deleted you. This, too, sounds suspicious. And besides, is it really that important if a “friend” has deleted you? Do you even personally know every individual who has ever friended you? This feature does not exist. You’re better off pretending that nobody would ever want to delete you because you’re so special! But actually, there are plug-ins available that perform this function, but still, stay away.
  8. Find out who viewed your profile. Again, here’s a scam that works well on people who have too much time on their hands. This function doesn’t exist on Facebook.
  9. Just changed my Facebook theme and it’s rad! Ignore this at all costs.
  10. Tragedy of the day. Whenever there is something horrific going on such as Mother Nature getting all murderous or some manmade disaster or even a celebrity dying, you can be sure Facebook scammers are on top of the breaking news with a “video” or “photo” that simply isn’t. Just don’t click it.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

10 Ways you may get Hacked this Summer

/in , /by

Can you name 10 ways you can get hacked this summer? I can.

Hotel Hacking

4DThose hotel electronic card locks for doors aren’t as secure as you think. A criminal attaches a little electronic gizmo beneath the lock, and presto, he’s in your room. You can’t stop this, but you can make the burglary worthless by not leaving valuables in your room. Always have your door locked overnight.

Car Hacking

Forget the bent coat hanger trick — that’s for rookies. But even a dimwitted thief could hack into your car this summer. For only $5, the thief buys a “black box,” a key fob spoofer, that electronically forces car doors open. Short of disabling your keyless entry, what you can do is park your car in lighted areas and keep valuable out of it. Or have your mechanic install a kill switch.

Credit Card Skimming

Criminals set up those card readers at stores with devices that will steal your card information. If you can’t pay with cash, use a credit card since there’s a delay in payment, whereas a debit card takes money from your account at the point of purchase. Keep a close eye on your credit card statements and bank account.

Hacking a Charging Phone

Avoid charging up your phone at a public kiosk. It doesn’t take a mental giant to install malware into these kiosk plugs. Once your phone gets plugged in, it’ll get infected. Use only your plug or wall outlets.

Finders Keepers Finders Weepers

If you happen to find a CD-ROM or thumb drive lying around in public, leave it be, even if it’s labeled “Hot Summer Babes at the Seashore.” You can bet that a crook left it there on purpose and wants you to plug it into your computer. You’ll end up installing malware that will allow the thief to remotely control your computer.

Phishing for Victims

You get an e-mail with a striking message in the subject line such as “Pics of you drunk at my party!” A percentage of people for whom these messages apply to will open the e-mail and take the bait: a link to click to see the photos. The link is malware and will infect your computer.

Wi-Fi Sharing

Using a public computer is always risky, as anyone can monitor your online actions. Hackers can even “make” your device go to malicious websites that will infect your device. Stay away from public Wi-Fi or use a VPN (virtual private network) like Hotspot Shield. A VPN will protect you summertime and all time at public WiFis.

Photo Geotagging

Every time you take a picture and post online, your location will be up for grabs in cyberspace, unless you’ve disabled your device’s geotagging.

Social Media

Beware of clickjacking and XSS. Clickjackers place a phony screen over an obscured malicious link, luring you to click. The hidden link then is triggered and gives the hacker your contacts, taking you to a malicious site. XSS puts a malicious script right in your browser that will install malware. So be judicious about clicking on popular videos and whatnot.

Airplane WiFi Hacking

Connect while 35,000 feet high and you can be revealing all sorts of private goodies. Airplanes lack online security. The aforementioned VPN is your best bet when connecting to airplane WiFi

Start your summer off securely by avoiding becoming a victim of hackers.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

New Facebook Phish Steals Passwords

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

I got an email from a colleague today:  Subject: “My Facebook account got hacked.”

I wonder if you could give me some guidance here –

I received the following email from Facebook:

——————————————————————–

From: Facebook [XXXXXX@facebook.com]

Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 5:58 AM

To: XXXXXXXXXXX

Subject: Security Warning From Facebook

Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

We have detected suspicious activity on your Facebook account and have temporarily suspended your account as a security precaution.

You can regain control of your account by logging into Facebook and following the on-screen instructions.

Please be sure to visit the Facebook Help Center (http://www.facebook.com/help/) for further information regarding these security issues and let us know if you need assistance.

Thanks,

Facebook Security Team

————————————————————————-

Reuters reports Hackers have long targeted Facebook users, sending them tainted messages via the social networking company’s own internal email system. With this new attack, they are using regular Internet email to spread their malicious software.

McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam across Europe, the United States and Asia since the campaign began on Tuesday.

Dave Marcus, McAfee’s director of malware research and communications, said that he expects the hackers will succeed in infecting millions of computers.

“With Facebook as your lure, you potentially have 400 million people that can click on the attachment. If you get 10 percent success, that’s 40 million,” he said.

McAfee says:

Tip 1: Do not open the attachment. Promptly delete the Facebook scam email.

Tip 2: Consumers can protect their computer from this type of cybercrime by installing a complete security software suite that includes anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall protection.

Tip 3: Consumers should make sure they are running the most up-to-date security software and their subscription is active.

Tip 4: If consumers are unsure if their security software vendor has an update for this type of malware, McAfee recommends that they check for and install any available updates, then immediately run a full scan.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Facebook hacking on CNN.