Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Top 10 from the FTC - Online and Phone Imposters

You have probably heard of all of these but, unfortunately, unsuspecting and trusting folks are still getting scammed. I just discovered that the Federal Trade Commission has a consumer information blog and they have posted a list of the top ten imposter scams from 2014.

1 - IRS Calling          2 - Prize Patrol          3 - Your computer has problems        

4 - Dangerous software alert from Microsoft Tech Support          5 - Fake FBI

6 - Computer Lock-out          7 - You've won a government grant          8 - Medical benefits scare

9 - Deportation Threats          10 - Fake Caller ID

More information on these types of scams is available on the FTC blog. Check it out. You can also browse the topic "privacy & identity" blog posts by clicking on a link on the right side of the web page. Looks like there is more helpful information there.

I guess the best advice is, "Be skeptical. Be very skeptical."

Friday, March 27, 2015

Are you taking charge of your online security?

As our lives get more bombarded with opportunities for digital devices and connections to the internet to assist us with our daily tasks, and daily entertainment, we also need to pay attention to the admonishments to be mindful of privacy and security. An article I recently read updates those concerns. I will share a few quotes here. If you would like to check out the entire article (not very long) by Shanton Cheng, Associate Professor in Information Systems at University of Melbourne (Australia) click on this link.

Mr. Cheng is reminding us that we need to be much better informed about online activities and not expect entities like businesses and governments to do all that is needed to protect us.
     "Going online without understanding the basics of how the internet works is like getting behind the wheel without knowing the road rules: you might still get where you’re going, but you could be a danger to yourself and those around you."
At the very least we should know:
     "the basics of our browser settings"
      and "the privacy settings of any apps and software we might be using."
We should be aware of:
     "the conditions of using any cloud services"
     and "what we are sharing online."

These are pretty much the tip of the iceberg when it comes to keeping ourselves safe in the digital world. We should also be thinking about aspects of "the internet of things." More on that later.