What Facebook knows is a result of what you have shared, and done, on Facebook
When we create that first Facebook account and go through the profile creation wizard, we can hardly see 10 feet ahead of us. We get a smorgasbord of questions
Where and when born?
Grade school?
Education achieved?
High school?'
College?
Marital status?
Spouse name?
Where you work or have worked?
Then we get to the most dangerous ones. Get ready:
Political views
Religious views.
I wisely answered the dangerous ones. I wrote "Everybody vote for me" and "Everybody worship me." Wise before my time, I suppose.
You are the product
I challenge you to look at your profile and see what information you are sharing. Remember Facebook is packaging this and selling it to ... Read More
Are you using Facebook because it is free?
How much are you paying to use Facebook each month? “Haha Mark, trick question,” you may say. "It's free. I am paying nothing.” I beg to differ.
You are paying with your personal information. Let me introduce Tanya, one of my fellow Michigan State University alums. I found her on Facebook. I sent a friend request and she accepted within 24 hours. We both told Facebook we graduated Michigan State University. On the UP side, sharing that information helped us connect. On the DOWN side, we shared information Facebook monetizes.
Highly targeted and branded MasterCard
We both checked Facebook one day and saw ads for a Michigan State University branded MasterCard. The advertisers created the MSU branding and then purchased (or ... Read More
2-factor Authentication helps protect your identity.
You should deploy 2-factor Authentication. This increases your security and reduces your chances of becoming an identity theft victim. Most services encourage 2-factor Authentication and let you deploy it at no additional cost.
Here's a quick question for you.
When attempting to access a website, the website can challenge you based on:
A) What you know (e.g. password).
B) Who you are (e.g. fingerprints).
C) What you have (e.g. phone).
D) All of the above.
Correct answer: D.
How it looks in real life.
Daisy runs a dental office in Folsom, CA. Keeping the practice up and running is her top priority. She runs most of her patient, insurance and vendor communications through her Gmail account. She deploys 2-factor Authentication with the steps at https://myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/two-step-verification/enroll-welcome. She keeps her smartphone nearby. ... Read More
Did you know your multifunction printer has its own backdoor WIFI?
Allen called me one day and said his printer was printing nonstop garbage. He wasn’t printing anything, but somebody was printing through WIFI. This print job was consuming his toner and paper. How did this happen?
I told Allen that in addition to joining your multi function printer to your office or home WIFI, you’ll find the printer broadcasts its own WIFI signal. You, or anybody close enough to the printer, can hop on that printer through that WIFI. A hacker could then cause mischief, including changing the printer’s IP addresses or printing large print jobs that consume paper and toner. I am showing you how to identify your printer’s WIFI, and how to secure it.
Assumptions
... Read More
Water utilities are popular targets
It wasn't the first time the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District and its wastewater counterpart had been hit by "ransomware," a type of malware that encrypts victims' computer files and demands online payment to unlock them.While operations weren't harmed, the infection prompted the water district to switch out its information technology service provider and call in the FBI. The case, first reported by the Coloradoan, remains under active investigation. FCLWD and the South Fort Collins Sanitation District treat and distribute water to 45,000 customers in northern Colorado.Colorado water officials aren't alone in their cybersecurity woes. The nation's nearly 70,000 water and wastewater utilities are struggling to keep their heads above a rising tide of online threats, based on interviews with security experts ... Read More
Cyber attacks are dirt cheap
Deloitte says the cost of committing a cyber attack is so surprisingly low that anyone can afford to be a bad guy. When you picture a cybercriminal organization today, you should be thinking about a group of individuals who run their operations like a business; concerned with profit and loss, looking for ways to execute as inexpensively as possible, while yielding the largest return. But what you don’t necessarily need to have in that vision is an organization with a large cash reserve.
According to Deloitte’s newest report, Black-market ecosystem: Estimating the cost of “Pwnership”, the cost of running a campaign is so low, it’s downright reasonable as a business model for even the smallest cybercriminal business.
Some cyber attack examples from the report ... Read More
Oath fined $4.95 Million for violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”)
In December, 2018, the New York State Attorney General announced a $4.95 million settlement with Oath Inc., the result of an investigation into Oath's violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).
The NYAG found that Oath’s ad exchanges transferred persistent identifiers and geolocation from website users to DSP bidders in its automated auction process. While that may be fine for websites directed to grown-up audiences, COPPA includes persistent identifiers and geolocation in its definition of “personal information.” And under the law, companies must obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting or using children’s personal information.
But instead of seeking verifiable parental consent, Oath treated all websites (and therefore all user information) the same, despite knowledge that some ... Read More
COVID-19 private health information will no longer be private
A recent update on both iPhones and Droid phones allows our phones to publish our COVID-19 private health information (PII). Some of us may not even know this is happening. Here’s how to find out if your phone is.
On an iPhone, choose Settings > Privacy > Health and you get a screen with COVID-19 Exposure Logging near the top.
COVID-19 Exposure Logging is currently off. “Why the worry Mark,” you may ask. The worry is because I did not intentionally add this functionality. It appeared one day. I do not have an app to transmit data yet. However, I am nervous that a future iOS update will include a surprise app that will transmit this information and worse, ... Read More