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Have a question or a privacy issue that you'd like us to investigate ? Send an to our editors with your comments.
Are you one of the millions of people who rely heavily on the cloud-based features of Dropbox and Evernote?
The two services make data available no matter where a user is located, but the programs are apparently not safe from the same kind of hacking and data breaches that afflict banks, schools, and every-day consumers. Click to find out what kinds of breaches recently affected both companies. Read More
Recently, a man named William Binney sat down for a remarkably scary interview with RT, an online magazine.
Binney worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) for many years before resigning in 2001, stating that he didn’t want to be a part of an agency that he believed was betraying the Constitution.
In his interview with RT, Binney makes the jaw-dropping claim that nearly every email sent by a U.S. citizen is being captured and stored by the FBI in huge data warehouses.
But here’s what’s interesting about our online correspondence: even the FBI has no idea what they are collecting. Read more startling news in the article. Read More
Q: “I was dismayed to find out about Google’s new privacy policies that allow them to collect information when I use their products, such as Gmail. I like Gmail a lot and don’t really want to give it up, but I’m wondering if there are any alternatives that don’t invade my privacy. Do you have any suggestions?”
A: You bring up a good point. Many people use Gmail because it’s a good email program, but few people know how much information Google collects about them.
As I mentioned in a blog post a few months ago, the amount of information Google collects and stores on each user is quite staggering.
Google tracks and stores every email you send, as well as every Google search term, the content in every Google chat, every conversation on Google Voice, and every appointment you enter into their calendar, among other things. Even if you’re not logged into Google, they can still track information on you for up to six months.
As part of privacy changes they made a few months ago, if you use any Google products, you cannot opt out of this data collection.
The reason they do this is (no surprise) because of the money they can charge advertisers who want this information. They are betting that you won’t give up their products.
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You might have noticed some disturbing security news last week: Yahoo reported that over 450,000 email usernames and passwords were stolen from the company’s databases by hackers and posted on the file-sharing account Pastebin.
Apparently Yahoo had stored these usernames and passwords without any encryption at all, making it very easy for hackers to steal them.
While having one’s email account hacked is bad enough, the news is actually worse than it sounds. Many of the hacked usernames and passwords were identical to those used in other website accounts, such as PayPal or online banking accounts. Read More
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Q: “I recently read about something called bots and botnets, and that these things can turn my computer into a zombie. What does that mean? Can you explain what botnets are and what they do?”
A: Botnets are a new and scary online phenomenon. In layman’s terms, a botnet is a network of infected computers that are controlled virtually by a botmaster.
With the rapid growth in bot infections, it’s vitally important that everyone get up to speed about this threat.
Botmasters can take over computers in a variety of ways, but usually they do it by sending infected emails to unsuspecting users. When the user opens a file attached to the email, their machine becomes infected.
After a computer becomes infected, the botmaster adds it to his or her botnet, which is the network of infected computers. Infected computers are sometimes called “zombie” computers.
When it comes to password security, two Microsoft researchers ask whether everything we know about password stealing is wrong.
They offer somewhat provocative thoughts, such as:
“Getting in and getting out with money is a far harder problem than simply causing destruction. If the goal were mayhem and destruction rather than money-making we might be a great deal worse off.”
Attention, Medicaid recipients in Utah and South Carolina!
If you or a loved one uses Medicaid or either state’s program for children, be sure to urge them to monitor their credit reports, bank accounts, and other areas.
Why? Because those are the key areas hackers could target with the information obtained after a recent theft of personal information of approximately 182,000 beneficiaries of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Utah, and another 228,435 Medicaid beneficiaries in South Carolina. Read More
I am often asked if viewing another person’s Internet communications is illegal.
You would think it would be, right? It seems like a no-brainer.
The surprising answer is actually no. In the United States, at least, it is perfectly legal. Read More
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Did you or someone you know purchase a Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi tablet recently?
If so, Android device maker Motorola wants YOU!
That’s because — oooops! – the company sold about 100 Xoom refurbished tablet computers without properly wiping the previous owners’ data.
The stored data could include owners’ photographs, documents, and login information for email and websites. Read More
Several interesting details have emerged from the “Global Risks for 2012″ report — which shows cyber attacks on governments and businesses are considered to be one of the top five risks in the world. Be it cybercrime, cyber-espionage or cyberwarfare — they are on a steady rise.
The reason, according to this article, are the “highly lucrative payout hackers get from stealing data.” Read More
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