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information security


Cookies and Politics: Are Political Campaigns Tracking You?

Posted on Monday, October 29th, 2012 by

Have you ever wondered whether political parties are placing tracking cookies on your computer when you visit their websites?

This worries me, because I don’t want to be tracked by anyone, so I dug deeper to find out what exactly they are tracking.

As you probably know by now, online advertisers place cookies on your computer so they can track which websites you visit. Based on the websites you visit, they serve you relevant ads.

Political parties use similar tracking cookies in an effort to help sway your vote. So yes, you are being tracked by one or both campaigns if you visit their websites and do not employ cookie-blocker software.

It’s called data mining, and it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that most people don’t even know is happening. And advertisers, as well as the political campaigns, want to keep it that way.

Let’s take a look at how and why they do it.

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The Shady World of Data Brokers: How to Remove Your Sensitive Information From Their Databases

Posted on Monday, May 14th, 2012 by

Did you know that there is an entire industry devoted to buying and selling your personal information?

This includes your current and past addresses, your age, the names of your neighbors, and your purchase history, among other things.

The companies that compile and sell this information are called data brokers. It is a huge industry, but most people don’t even know that it exists. And data brokers would like to keep it that way. Read More

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Lax Information Security Makes Hotels Low Hanging Fruit for Hackers

Posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2012 by

Let’s face it, hackers love hotels.  And not because they want to get away from it all. The huge volume of personal information collected, transmitted and stored by the hospitality industry has made it a prime target for cybercrime, according to a 2011 report by Willis Group Holdings, a global insurance broker. As hotels push consumers to conduct more of their business online, they’ve opened the door to cybercrime. Check out what you can do to protect your online security before you check in.

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Statistics, Cybercrime, and Keeping Customers Happy

Posted on Friday, September 30th, 2011 by

Do businesses have vested self-interests in under-reporting fraud incidents in order to keep customers happy? According to this Huffington Post article, “the significant disconnect within many corporations, where internal security experts are unable to justify increased security methods or spending due to a lack of measured information, presents a grave danger to the well-being of our global economy. Having trusted measures and performance benchmarks will significantly reduce this information gap between security and executive leadership in organizations. It will help formulate more cost effective defense strategies against cyber crime.” Read More

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Financial Fail: Kiplinger Letter Subscriber Emails, Credit Card Info Compromised in Data Breach

Posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 by

Hackers breached Kiplinger’s Personal Finance network as early as June 25 and stole user names, passwords, and encrypted credit card numbers from as many as 142,000 subscribers to the magazine or the company’s various newsletters, including the Kiplinger Letter. This Bloomberg news article says the stolen information can sometimes be “used in so-called phishing scams to gain more valuable data or for identity theft” and that “while the credit-card numbers were encrypted,” encryption in rare cases can be broken. Kiplinger is advising customers to call their banks and replace the card numbers.

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Data Breach Certainty: Survey Finds 90% of Companies Have Been Hacked in Past 12 Months

Posted on Thursday, June 30th, 2011 by

Is a data breach from hackers almost a statistical certainty these days? It sure feels that way, especially after checking out the stats from a recent Ponemon Research survey. It quizzed 357 information-technology and security executives in the United States, with 51% of respondents employed by organizations with more than 5,000 employees. Read More

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First-Person Account: Company CEO Says Hackers Tried to Extort Sensitive Information, Money

Posted on Friday, June 24th, 2011

This startling article on CNET describes “a weeklong saga of email exchanges” for one recent hacking victim. The group of hackers told this victim they wouldn’t publicly divulge information they had gotten from snooping on his accounts if he revealed sensitive information. Read the entire article to learn about the mysterious network attacks, conference call, and email activities that led up to hackers threatening to go public with his information.

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FCC Warns of Wifi Risks, Urges Small Business Owners to Develop Internet Security Plan

Posted on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 by

If you’re a small business owner, what steps do you take to secure your company and employees? If you work for a small business, has your employer talked to you about the risks? Do you access customer data or financial details while using free WiFi? What have you done to protect your company’s sensitive data and avoid a massive information breach? These are just some of the issues raised during the FCC’s “Small Business Roundtable” to encourage small- and medium-sized businesses to avoid falling for scams, phishing, and data breaches that could cost them millions in lost revenue. Read More

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Social Media Survey: Online Privacy ‘Fundamentally Flawed’

Posted on Monday, May 2nd, 2011

A Columbia University student conducted a study of social networks’ privacy settings and says that existing approaches to online privacy are “fundamentally flawed and cannot be fixed,” according to survey results. This Huffington Post article says the research tracked the Facebook use of 65 students ages 18 to 25: 100% were sharing personal information online in ways they had not intended and 93.8% realized they were revealing information they had wanted to cover up.

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Ask the Expert: Am I At Risk If Stores I Shop At Keep My Email Address on File?

Posted on Monday, May 2nd, 2011 by

In his latest “Ask the Expert” monthly installment, CEO Kent Lawson discusses ways you can protect your email, password, and other sensitive information in the wake of the recent Epsilon email data breach affecting millions of customer information from retail giants and banks nationwide. Before you click on that so-called legitimate link sent from your “bank,” check out his tips to keep yourself and your family protected! Read More

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