Security & Privacy Archives - Page 5 of 17 - David Papp

Is Your Browser Telling You Everything? How Web Domains Aren’t Always What You Think

2017/06/012017/05/23

Developer Xudong Zheng created a web page to educate people about a new security threat online. The danger was rooted in the weaknesses of several browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.

He found that web addresses could have one appearance while being registered as something completely different.

To show the potential danger, he set up a dummy site. https://www.xn--80ak6aa92e.com/ is a URL appearing in several browsers as www.apple.com. How did he do it? Keep reading to find out.

Back in the early 90’s, only ASCII characters were used in domain names. ASCII, short for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, assigns a number code to each standard English character. If you were working in certain industries or in college school during the 80’s and 90’s, you may remember using it to share document texts between computers and countries.

ASCII

Parents Are in Control with Google’s Family Link

2017/04/24

Here’s good news for parents of kids 12 and under. Google has created a way for young children to have their very own parent-controlled accounts. The new Family Link program offers a safer online experience that gives kids both freedom and safety.

According to Influence Central’s 2016 Digital Trends Study, kids are getting their first smartphones at an average age of 10.3-years-old. 64% have online access with their own laptops or tablets. And tablets are replacing tic-tac-toe and DVDs to make up 55% of family road trip entertainment.

Parents can now moderate their kids’ activities and information-sharing online by requesting an invite to the Family Link early access program. Once approved, they can create an account for each child and start using the free app.

A parent and one other adult can use the app on almost any android cellphone or tablet. Family Link allows a full range of control. At the same time, it encourages parents and kids to talk about online choices.

What to do if you’re locked out of your phone

2017/03/24

If you’ve ever been locked out of your phone, you know how frustrating that can be.

In fact, there’s a new term for the anxiety people feel when they don’t have access to their phones – nomophobia. In a 2010 British study, a full 53% of participants experienced nomophobia after losing a phone, battery power, or access to mobile networks.

We all depend on mobile now, and we need security features like passwords, PIN codes, fingerprints and gestures to keep our data secure …

But what if you forget your PIN code and you are the one who’s blocked?

You may have to sacrifice data with a factory reset. However, with a little planning, you can have your security and continued access to your information.

11 Choices to Discover Your Perfect Messaging App

2017/03/10

What’s your messaging personality? Do you want to send secure and anonymous messages, make your own memes, or chat with your favorite 200 friends all at once?

Whatever your preference, there’s an app for you. Check out these 11 choices to see which fits your personality and messaging style the best.

Is Your Smart Home Tracking You?

2017/03/03

Who’s tracking you?

According to CBC News, Smart TV maker Vizio is paying out 2.2 million dollars to the US Federal Trade Commission and other authorities. The reason? They tracked what viewers were watching without consent. Users of their “Smart Interactivity” feature unknowingly sacrificed privacy in exchange for automatic suggestions based on viewing habits.

Imagine turning on the TV to watch the big game. You turn up the thermostat and grab a cold drink from the fridge. The game is in overtime, and the referee just made a bad call.

With smart new appliances connected in the Internet of Things (IoT), every move you’ve just made could be tracked and shared … from grabbing a brew to yelling at the ref.

And we don’t even notice it. We expect Google to track our searches. However, we don’t think about companies collecting data from our kids x-box, the thermostat, or the fridge.

With mics on Televisions accepting voice commands, even what we say in our homes will be picked up…. think about that one for a sec.

New High-Tech Credit Card Scam Alert – Shimmers

2017/01/31

Thieves have come up with yet another way to scam our credit cards. Law enforcement are finding slim plastic cards with electronics inside POS (point of sale) terminals. We were concerned before by skimmers where waiters could quickly scan your credit card into a pager sized device on their belt. Now we have shimmers which you cannot see inside the credit card machines.

HOW DO SHIMMERS WORK