Month: December 2023

Some basic cyber practices for the holiday!

• Guard your Personal Identification Number (PIN) in public. Eavesdroppers may be spying on you from behind while you are typing it in or if you write it down. Cover the keypad. Watch for skimming devices attached to ATMs, which can capture your PIN.
• Watch out for indications of tampering or skimming on card readers or someone trying to distract you or offer you help, especially at gas stations, bars, and restaurants. Inform the merchant or authorities if you think you’re a victim.
• When you are traveling, you want to avoid shopping hassles. Head this off by calling your bank or credit card company to notify them. This way, the company will know not to lock your cards for unusual activity.
• Keep your bank and credit cards secure; avoid public display.
• Contactless payments through an RFID credit card (contactless or tap-to-pay cards) are among the safest purchasing methods. Your RFID-enabled card, smartphone, or other wearable uses encryption and tokenization to protect your personally identifiable information (PII). RFID technology sends information between a tag and a scanner using radio waves. A credit card is RFID enabled if you see the contact list symbol on the front or back (similar to a sideways WiFi symbol). To protect your RFID device, an RFID-blocking wallet can prevent someone from robbing you even if you don’t take it out of your pocket.
• Use the chip on your card rather than the magnetic strip.
• Use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols for your passwords, update them regularly, and avoid reusing them. A password manager is the best way to create complex and secure passwords.
• If you are shopping online, make sure you see the lock icon or “https” in your browser’s address bar.
• Your credit card or payment service should offer fraud protection.
• Don’t use public WiFi or computers when performing online transactions.
• Take advantage of your bank or credit service’s transaction alerts and review them routinely for unauthorized or suspicious transactions.
• Report to a bank or credit card company if you lost your card or had it stolen. Most times, these companies have 24/7 hotlines for this.
• Beware of phishing emails with links or attachments, and do not expose your PII over the phone or online to any unknown person or company.
• Use anti-malware software to protect yourself from data breaches.
• Don’t use credit cards on public WiFi networks.
• Use the Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay digital wallets to store your credit and debit card information safely. You can use these features on a smartphone or smartwatch, which operates with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to process your payments. If your device has one of the digital wallets, you can wave your device over a contactless reader for a few seconds to process the secure payment.
• PayPal and Venmo offer an alternative secure purchasing method. You can link them to your bank account, credit, or debit card to a PayPal account to execute transactions without exposing your financial details to a third party and take advantage of encrypted financial data and fraud protection.
• What do you do if you’ve been scammed?
• 1) Change your passwords and call your account provider if you can.
• 2) Review your account statements for any unrecognized transactions.
• 3) Use a Fraud protection service like LifeLock or other identity theft companies. You can get dark web monitoring of your Social Security Number, driver’s license, phone number, email information, and transaction alerts.
• 4) Report cyberattacks to the Federal Communications Commission or other law enforcement.
• 5) Get the advice of a lawyer and then speak with law enforcement afterward, especially if you are charged with a crime.
• 6) Run your own or request a background check.
• 7) Alert the Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian credit bureaus if you want to freeze or lock your credit report.

So, the spirit of Christmas and Hannukah is here: houses and trees lit up, gift wrapping — and scammers. The denizens of the underworld may ruin your holiday while you are concentrating on shopping and giving. They even steal from charitable givers. Continue reading “All I Want For Christmas Is Not To Be Scammed”

Bug bounties are to the internet what wanted posters were to the Wild West. Companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and government offices like the U.S. Department of Defense have been enlisting professional “white hats” (also “ethical hackers” or “security researchers,” sometimes “penetration testers”) to find weaknesses in their defenses — with hefty cash rewards for those who find them (see appendix at end).

White hats – the guardians of cybersecurity — help you find the vulnerabilities in your systems and networks before the black hats do. If a malicious user compromises your network, you may not know for 60 months. That’s the average time until a business becomes aware that a hacker has been in its network. And many serious problems for your business can occur during and after that time. While big companies like Equifax, Maersk, and Target have become victims of cyberattacks and recovered, small to medium-sized businesses hit by hackers may not survive. SMBs may not have the necessary resources and staff to recover fully. Continue reading “Seeing Signs of Network Compromise? The Guardians of Cybersecurity Can Help”