May 2011
We have all been presented online with secret questions and passwords. This is supposed to help a company website know it is really you when you need a password reset. But, how secret are those answers and should you give a completely different answer to the question to throw off cybercreeps?
We all see the security questions and take them seriously. We dutifully enter in our Mother’s maiden name when asked. But where does that information go? Is it really protected? Is it really used to validate that it’s you or does a cybercreep just need to know the answer? With the recent Sony PlayStation breach, they are concerned that your answers to their secret questions might be at risk. Cyber Expert Theresa Payton says that you may want to think about how you answer those secret security questions on various sites.
When you fill out a job or bank application, you need to truthfully answer these questions. When you are on sites such as email, social networking, or other internet sites you should look for options that make sense.
Tips to Protect Your Secret Questions and Answers:
1. Look first to see if you can create your own questions. If you can create your own question, that is the best option.
You can make up something such as a question: “Where I wish I could go right now” and answer “On Vacation with my honey!”.
2. Avoid responding to quizzes online: A lot of those funny quizzes you can answer online on Facebook or other sites might give away clues that can help guess your password or your answers to security questions
3. Come up with your own code phrase and choose the first letter of each phrase and use numbers or symbols. Example: When answering “your favorite color” create a phrase like, “I love yellow because it reminds me of daisies” and answer with Ilybirm@d!
4. Use completely different answers but make sure it is something you can remember!
Our word for the week is: PIMP
A play on the phrase, “pimp my ride”, this is geek speak for using words, cool backgrounds, or graphics to embellish your online profile. An example would be, finding cool backgrounds for your Twitter or blog page. Pimping your profile means boosting the look and content of your profile online by adding various information or links to your profile to make it stand out.
Web Resources:
McAfee has great tips on security questions and answers as well as the latest scams floating around at www.McAfee.com
Facebook has a great safety page at: https://www.facebook.com/fbsafety
You can keep up with the latest Facebook scams at: https://www.facebook.com/Facecrooks?ref=ts
Online safety. Online security. Protecting Yourself Online. Protecting Kids Online. Keeping the U.S. Safe from Cybercreeps. Cybercrime. Protecting Against Fraud.
Showing posts with label sony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sony. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Your Information Held Hostage?
May 2011
We have seen the old cops and robber shows or TV dramas where a criminal shouts out, "This is a hold up. Give us all your money, or else!" Well, in cyberspace there is a new twist. A trend is emerging where hackers steal information, some hold it ransom, and then try to sell it back to the company they stole it from. It sounds like a bad TV movie doesn't it? The bad guys break into a network at a company and hold the data hostage. It's happened before but now researchers in cyber security say it is happening in what might turn out to be the largest data breach so far - the Sony Playstation network breach. Could your credit card data be in their hands and held for ransom?
Researchers said that alleged hackers have been talking about it in online forums saying they have roughly 2 million credit card numbers from their heist. The hackers offered to sell stolen credit cards back to Sony for $100,000. It is unclear what the next steps will be but FBI Law Enforcement Officials are involved.
5 TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF:
1. Set up automated alerts for exisiting credit cards
2. Consider placing high fraud alerts on your credit card accounts through Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax
3. Make sure your password on the game system is not the same or even a variation of your email, banking or social networking accounts
4. Several breaches have happened recently of email addresses - be very suspicious of emails you receive and avoid clicking on links or opening attachments
5. Consider a new credit card if your card was connected to Sony Playstation
This Week’s Word of the week: Nibble (also sometimes spelle NYBBLE or NYBLE)
It sounds like snack time but it refers to storage. This is a geek play on words. A byte of storage has 8 bits so if you only need 4 bits, you just need a "Nibble" and not a full "byte".
Web Resources:
Sony is communicating updates about the most recent breach at:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/26/update-on-playstation-network-and-qriocity/
If you want to set up Fraud Alerts, you can go to all 3 credit reporting services:
Experian: https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html
TransUnion: http://www.transunion.com
Equifax: www.Equifax.com
We have seen the old cops and robber shows or TV dramas where a criminal shouts out, "This is a hold up. Give us all your money, or else!" Well, in cyberspace there is a new twist. A trend is emerging where hackers steal information, some hold it ransom, and then try to sell it back to the company they stole it from. It sounds like a bad TV movie doesn't it? The bad guys break into a network at a company and hold the data hostage. It's happened before but now researchers in cyber security say it is happening in what might turn out to be the largest data breach so far - the Sony Playstation network breach. Could your credit card data be in their hands and held for ransom?
Researchers said that alleged hackers have been talking about it in online forums saying they have roughly 2 million credit card numbers from their heist. The hackers offered to sell stolen credit cards back to Sony for $100,000. It is unclear what the next steps will be but FBI Law Enforcement Officials are involved.
5 TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF:
1. Set up automated alerts for exisiting credit cards
2. Consider placing high fraud alerts on your credit card accounts through Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax
3. Make sure your password on the game system is not the same or even a variation of your email, banking or social networking accounts
4. Several breaches have happened recently of email addresses - be very suspicious of emails you receive and avoid clicking on links or opening attachments
5. Consider a new credit card if your card was connected to Sony Playstation
This Week’s Word of the week: Nibble (also sometimes spelle NYBBLE or NYBLE)
It sounds like snack time but it refers to storage. This is a geek play on words. A byte of storage has 8 bits so if you only need 4 bits, you just need a "Nibble" and not a full "byte".
Web Resources:
Sony is communicating updates about the most recent breach at:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/26/update-on-playstation-network-and-qriocity/
If you want to set up Fraud Alerts, you can go to all 3 credit reporting services:
Experian: https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html
TransUnion: http://www.transunion.com
Equifax: www.Equifax.com
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