AMERICA NOW TIP #1

Theresa Payton, founder of Fortalice, LLC. (www.fortalicesolutions.com), has been invited by America Now news to serve as an expert authority for cyber security. Visit her section at http://www.americanownews.com/story/16190165/theresa-payton to check out the most current advice on threats in the Cyber world and ask questions of your own!

Notes taken from Theresa Payton's first America Now! segment

Tip #1: TP on Speedy, Strong Passwords

We all have too many passwords to remember, don't we? And experts tell us to make them hard to guess. Well, if we make the too hard, we ourselves will not remember them. But don't fear...our tipster, Theresa Payton shares her tips for speedy, strong passwords...

Strong passwords use upper case and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.

Try these tips to create a tough one to guess (but easy to remember!):

1. Create a Phrase

2. Choose the first letter of each word

3. Replace some letters with special characters

For Example:

"I LOVE TO WATCH THE SUPER BOWL!" = I<32wtSB!

Just remember, never repeat the exact password twice across accounts so add some flair to make them different, but still easy to remember.

Another example: (for your frequent flier account)- use only something about travel you would know

"Lost my luggage in LA"

TEXTING BEHIND THE WHEEL A DEADLY HABIT

Notes by: Theresa Payton, Fortalice, LLC. Also featured in WBTV's segment Protecting Your Cyberturf featuring Theresa Payton and Kristen Miranda.

TEXTING BEHIND THE WHEEL A DEADLY HABIT
Recently a young man died after receiving and sending texts causing him to slam into a truck in front of him and triggering a major highway incident. This habit of reading, responding to, or writing texts is a dangerous practice. But now the Government wants to get involved and tell you what you can and cannot do behind the wheel of your car.
How many times lately have you seen someone driving too slow, too fast, or even running a red light and you caught them texting behind the wheel? Well the National Transportation Safety Board has said enough is enough. They are proposing that texting and talking on a cell phone be illegal for all drivers across all 50 states. But is this going to extremes? Cyber expert, Theresa Payton, gives us the rundown on what might happen.

IT’S HARMLESS AND I DRIVE FINE:
According to a test conducted by Car and Driver magazine and other studies, no you don’t!

• Car and Driver tested drivers reading texts and sending texts. They used a simulation of another car with brake lights to time how long it took them to react.
• Next, they asked the subjects to drink alcohol until they hit .08 BAC and then asked them to drive and react to the same brake light test.

(Don’t worry, the tests were done on a long strip without other cars!)

• When do you think they drove better? When they had the .08 BAC!
• We know that drinking and driving is dangerous, many establishments encourage you to take a cab instead of driving. Now we know that texting while driving is actually more unsafe!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
The NTSB has drafted a new set of rules about cell phone use by drivers of a moving car

• The NTSB cannot mandate any guidelines. The States can ignore the NTSB guidelines, adopt some, or adopt all of the guidelines

• Research from Virginia Tech showed that even hands free phone headsets do not eliminate the distractions presented when talking on the phone while driving

NTSB has said, “No call, no text, no update is worth a human life.”

• They may make allowances for on board systems like OnStar or cell phone based GPS systems
• If you are for or against the ban, you can leave comments for the NTSB or direct them to the Governor’s office of the state that you live in.

WORD OF THE WEEK: Zoo. Sometimes researchers will create their own computer viruses to test them in a controlled lab to see what the viruses do. Because they cage in these viruses to make sure they don’t accidentally get out on the internet, they call it a zoo!
WEB RESOURCES:
You can follow the plans at the National Transportation Safety Board at:
http://www.ntsb.gov/
The Governor’s State Highway Association tracks laws, by state, regarding talking or texting on cell phones at:
http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html
You can view the Car and Driver magazine’s test results and watch a video at:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/texting-while-driving-how-dangerous-is-it

CYBERBULLYING APP ATROCITY

Notes by: Theresa Payton, Fortalice, LLC. Also covered in WBTV's segment Protecting Your Cyberturf featuring Theresa Payton and Kristen Miranda.

CYBERBULLYING APP ATROCITY

3 million. That’s the number of times an “ugly meter” app has been downloaded to smart phones so far and it’s alarming children advocates that are trying to fight cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has disastrous consequences. Kids end up depressed, with low esteem, and some have even taken their own lives in despair. No good can come from this meter.

This has become a popular app in the Apple store and it’s called UGLY METER. The latest version of the app even has a “Bully Mode” to help you come up with mean things to say and make it even easier to post photos with mean comments on the web. Cyber expert Theresa Payton has an alert for all our viewers.


HOW IT WORKS:
1. download the app
2. run photos through it
3. the software uses facial details in the photo and the program rates the face on an ugly meter on a scale of 0 to 10
4. the software then adds a nasty taunt to the photo which you can post together on the web

We highly recommend you check all your home computers and smart phones to make sure your family is not using this app.


WORD OF THE WEEK:
BITCOIN: It’s a play on words. It’s coins in the digital word. The “bit” is it is digital currency. The coin can represent money or something of value like points or badges in a game. It enables fast payments between people in any location. Similar idea to PayPal except there is no central organization managing the payments. It provides sender and receiver some anonymity. It’s popular with gamers. Use with caution.

RESOURCES:
Web site of the creator of the Ugly App Meter: http://www.dappergentlemen.com/uglymeter/index.html

Parent and Teacher resources to help combat cyberbullying:

Stop Cyberbullying: http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/

Fortalice LLC tracks cyberbullying and other internet issues: www.FortaliceSolutions.com
Cyberbullying Research Center: http://www.cyberbullying.us/

Girl related cyberbullying: http://www.awaythrough.com/

DIGITAL REALLY DOES MEAN FOREVER WITH TWITTER

Notes by: Theresa Payton, Fortalice, LLC. Material also covered in WBTV's segment Protecting Your Cyberturf featuring Kristen Miranda and Theresa Payton.

DIGITAL REALLY DOES MEAN FOREVER WITH TWITTER

It’s hard to remember life before Twitter but there may come a day when Twitter is not the “it” thing anymore. But did you know that your tweets will have an afterlife? That’s right, the U.S. Government is collecting every single tweet, from comments about the first cup of java on a Monday morning to Tsunami information to the protests in Egypt, every tweet has been collected for preservation.

We say this all the time - digital is forever but that saying has gone to a new level! The Library of Congress collects information that might be vital to our Nation’s history. That mission extends to digital data but they usually don’t collect everything digital and hold it forever...except for tweets! Cyber expert, Theresa Payton, explains.

WHAT WE KNOW:
The Library of Congress said they are not collecting “private” tweets which might mean the direct message function but they are collecting all tweets, regardless of topic, and storing them forever.

We told you previously the National Archives was collecting tweets and storing them but their focus was much more limited.

So the question is, what will the future do with the tweets of today? Care to retract any tweets?

WORD OF THE WEEK:
NETCATION: It’s a mashup of two words: internet and vacation. We all probably need more of this, a vacation from not just work but the internet too. So you might see someone on Facebook or Twitter say, “Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I took a netcation”.

RESOURCES:
Twitter’s privacy policy:
https://twitter.com/privacy/previous/version_2

To share ideas and comments about Twitter being archived and other topics go to this page at the National Archives website: http://www.archives.gov/social-media/policies/idea-forum-comment-policy.html

See what the Library of Congress said on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/#!/librarycongress/status/12169442690

EVERYONE’S A PEEPING TOM WITH THE NEW FACEBOOK GLITCH

Notes by: Theresa Payton, Fortalice, LLC. Also featured in the WBTV segment Protecting Your Cyberturf with Kristen Miranda and Theresa Payton.

EVERYONE’S A PEEPING TOM WITH THE NEW FACEBOOK GLITCH

We have talked to you before about how “digital is forever” and to assume that your personal conversations could be exposed, but many of us still expect a reasonable amount of privacy if we take the time to turn on privacy settings. But that’s evidently not good enough. Even Mark Zuckerburg, the founder of Facebook learned that there is no such thing as private or personal on Facebook. A small glitch temporaily allowed people to see photos, regardless of the privacy setting. Cyber expert, Theresa Payton, explains what happened.

The good news is that Facebook seems to have fixed the issue. The bad news is, people had a false sense of security that if they locked down their privacy settings to share photos only with friends that they had that assurance and the glitch proved there are no 100% assurances.

Here is what Facebook had to say about the incident:
"The bug allowed anyone to view a limited number of another user's most recently uploaded photos irrespective of the privacy settings for these photos...Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed."

HOW IT WORKED:
Facebook offers a user community reporting system where you can report inappropriate content. By making this feature available, they accidentally allowed this feature to bypass privacy settings.

WHO WAS IMPACTED?
Everyone was temporarily impacted. Even the founder, Mark Zuckerburg, had photos of his girlfriend and puppy exposed.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF:
Follow the Grandmom rule: If you don’t want Grandmom to see it, don’t post photos online

If you need to share photos, consider using a photo sharing site and then deleting the photos after you are done. Remember, digital is forever so they are still around even if you cannot see them.

WORD OF THE WEEK:
SCHEMER: Pronounced Scheme-er, this is a new Google product. It’s based on the concept of organizing activities into “schemes”. They have various schemes already set up that you can choose or you can submit your own. Then you can share information with others. It’s sort of a Location Check in Service (like GoWalla or Foursquare) except it is activity based.
It’s not available in Charlotte yet! You can request to be on a wait list at http://www.schemer.com/welcome
RESOURCES:
To keep up with the latest Facebook privacy settings go to:
https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/

To stay ahead of the scams out there, track Facecrooks on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/Facecrooks

SCAM ALERT #2

From: "Eddie Hamm" <eddiehamm@rocketmail.com>
Date: December 8, 2011 9:36:40 AM EST
Subject: Order Inquiry

Dear Sales,
Good day to you. I would like to place an order for the below listed items from your establishment to our location in TX , USA .

# Fargo 44230 Color Ribbon - YMCKO - 250 prints
# Fargo 86200 Color Ribbon - YMCKO - 500 prints
# C6578DN Inkjet Cartridge (Tri-Colour)
# C1823D Inkjet Cartridge (Tri-Colour)

Looking forward for the quick response , so that i can get back to you with the qtys needed. and also let me know know the acceptable credit cards for the payment

Thank you
Eddie Hamm
Sales Manager
3319 Thrash Trail
Mineola, TX 75773

NOTE: REPLY TO ( eddiehamm@rocketmail.com )

SCAM ALERT: Information about Your Late Relation/Family Member- Final Notice

One of the most recent phishing scams we've stumbled upon...

Information about Your Late Relation/Family Member- Final Notice

Ref: Information about Your late Relation/Family member

This is my second but final attempt to reach you in view of this subject matter.

I am Geoffrey Bell,an Conveyancer , Investment adviser/sole executor to your late relation.There is an Estate(Cash deposit in account with SNS

Bank and some landed Properties) belonging to your Late family member I will like to discuss with you; He is related to you going by the linage,

surname and country of origin.

Once I receive your information and endorse same appropriately,I shall provide you with all the privileged information/legal documents relating

to the deceased and also will give you guidelines on how to realize this goal without the breach of the law. I would respectfully request that you

treat the content of this letter as privileged and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this correspondence. Contact me

immediately for more information and to begin the legal process of redeeming your lawful entitlement before the bank is compelled by law to hand

over the money to the government.

Kind Regards,

Geoffrey Bell

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Bell & Co. Solicitors ® is a trade mark of Bell & Co. Solicitors and and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority © copyright 2011. Authorized and regulated by the

Solicitors Regulation Authority. limited liability partnership, registered in England (OC321279).Bell & Co incorporating Liddingtons is a trading name of Gowen & Stevens LLP.

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