Ten Security Golden Rules
Jan 26, 2012Your home computer is a popular target for intruders. Why? Because intruders want what you’ve stored there. They look for credit card numbers, bank account information, and anything else they can find. By stealing that information, intruders can use your money to buy themselves goods and services.
But it’s not just money-related information they’re after. Intruders also want your computer’s resources, meaning your hard disk space, your fast processor, and your Internet connection. They use these resources to attack other computers on the Internet. In fact, the more computers an intruder uses, the harder it is for law enforcement to figure out where the attack is really coming from. If intruders can’t be found, they can’t be stopped, and they can’t be prosecuted.
Identity Theft: A Primer
Dec 22, 2011Last year the Federal Trade Commission received more than one-quarter million stolen identity complaints — and that’s just the reported cases. Identity theft is the leading consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. Of course, stealing your identity information isn’t the worst of the crime; it’s what the criminal does with the information that’s damaging. Credit card fraud. Mortgage and utilities scams. Emptied bank accounts.
Keeping Your Identity Safe
Jun 12, 2010It may sound crazy, but even kids as young as 10 can benefit from being careful with what information they give out. Look at Myspace and Facebook and what information some people post. Real names, where they live, where they will be and at what time. That is a set-up for danger. Cyber stalkers use sites like these to pick out victims. Don’t be one.
Be careful who you accept as a friend online. The other person could be posing as someone you may know or like to know and may be someone with bad intentions. If you let people see everything you post, you could set yourself up for trouble. There are scammers out there who will take over the identity of a friend of yours, post that they were mugged and had all of their money stolen and they will ask you to send or wire money to them. Don’t fall for that.