Mozy discount coupon: FEBRUARY

Posted by kent on February 9th, 2010

Mozy, one of our favorite providers of online backup services, has a new discount code. For this month only, Mozy is offering 10% discounts when you use the code FEBRUARY at checkout. This brings the yearly plan down to $49.01. A two year plan will cost you $93.56. It's an excellent price for secure, unlimited online backup.

See how Mozy compares to the competition with our online backup service reviews and comparisons.

How to get a new Social Security Card

Posted by tasha on February 8th, 2010

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:

Q: How do I get another social security card?

A: If you have lost your social security card and need another one, you can get a free replacement. The social security office limits the number of replacement cards they will issue to 3 a year and 10 in your lifetime, but this should be plenty for the majority of people.

To obtain a replacement card you need to complete the official government Application for a Social Security Card form and take it or mail it to your local social security office. This form requires you to provide personal information such as your name, your social security number and your parent's personal information. You will also have to show documents proving your identity and that you are a US citizen (or if you aren't a US citizen, proof of current employment). This can be a little tricky as the social security office will only accept original documents, or documents certified by the custodian of the original record. They won't accept photocopies or notarized copies of documents. If at all possible, it makes sense to visit a social security office rather than mailing one of these documents to them. That way you won't have these important documents out of your possession. Once all your documents have been verifying and your application is processed it takes approximately 10-14 days to get your replacement social security card.

Your social security card is a valuable piece of information, and it should be carefully guarded. If your card has been lost or stolen you may be at risk for identity theft. Someone can use your SSN to apply for everything from mortgages to bank accounts. We recommend protecting yourself by signing up for one of the identity theft services reviewed on our site.

419 scams double, over $9 billion in profits

Posted by Robert Siciliano on February 8th, 2010

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

A recent study by Dutch investigation firm Ultrascan shows we are half as smart (or twice as dumb) as we were in 2008, as advanced fee scams, a.k.a. 419 scams, doubled in losses to over $9 billion. 419 Advance Fee Fraud Statistics 2009 (PDF)

It is believed that while the scams are known to be Nigerian in nature, coined after the 419 Nigerian code making them illegal, scams were launched from 69 other countries in 2009.  The jump in the amount of victims is due to the broader reach of the scammer. Scammers aren’t just targeting English-speaking nations anymore. As people in developing countries get computers and Internet connections, they become susceptible to the same old scams that other countries got snagged by a decade ago.

Big targets have become China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and others. Many of the scams of the past had an “insurance fee” pitch that required a percentage of money sent in order to ensure that so many millions made their way to another bank somewhere. This “investment” by the victim was supposed to get them a percentage of the big pot. Once the scammer got a hold of the victims, they would build a relationship with them, in many cases a romantic one, to get them emotionally involved in the ruse.

However, in China, the Chinese get hooked by lottery scams. And in India, a culture of hard workers, people fall for student visa and job placement scams. The hook in all these scams is that the victim believes an inbound communication to be legitimate. From there, the scammers will say and do anything to get the victims to wire money. But it usually doesn’t end there. Once they get a rube on the hook, they will come up with as many reasons as possible to completely drain the victim of all their money.

Criminals aren’t any smarter than we are, but they know how to capitalize on our stupidity. They pull on emotional strings, they use greed, lust and many other human impulses to trigger us. It's up to everyone to just be a little smarter about the emails they receive. And tell those in your life who are less than cognizant, just hit delete.

Protect your identity:

1. If you think you're a victim of identity theft, get a credit freeze. Click on the preceding link and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

2. Invest in anti-virus and keep it auto-updated.

3. Go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.

4. Invest in identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses various scams on TBS’s Movie and a Makeover.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Intelius to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

Chemistry.com Free Communication Weekend

Posted by tasha on February 5th, 2010

If you've ever wondered whether online dating is for you, this is a good weekend to try it out. Chemistry.com is offering free communication to new users this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (2/5 – 2/7). Their special promotion allows you to access all the Chemistry.com subscriber benefits at no cost. This means you can have the complete Chemistry.com experience for free – you don't even need to provide a credit card.

After you complete your profile, Chemistry.com will display your matches and you can immediately start contacting and interacting with them. It's the perfect time to give online dating a test drive. If you'd like to learn more about online dating, take a look at our comprehensive review of the most popular dating sites.

Criminal hackers buying and selling hacked accounts

Posted by Robert Siciliano on February 5th, 2010

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger.

Malicious software, designed to gather usernames and passwords, has been a boon to the criminal hacking community. Spyware, as it’s commonly known, records almost everything a user does on their PC. The most damaging spyware records all electronic communications via a web browser. That’s where the most damage can be done and the money is made.

A recent study, by Internet security software firm Kaspersky, shows there are as many as 70,000 variations of these keystroke sniffing programs, which is double what was discovered in 2008. Criminals have become proficient at hacking databases containing millions of credit card numbers but now have such a glut of data, that they have to work hard to turn it into actual cash. IT security professionals have also become better at discovering a breach and those same credit card numbers become invalid soon after the discovery is made.

Cyber hackers have discovered great profits by stealing a user's online banking information. Fully accessing an individual or business bank account allows the criminal hacker more time to transfer funds and write checks to themselves. Even something as seemingly innocuous as a social networking site can reap huge rewards for the criminal hacker; scraping user names and passwords for Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites allows the hacker to spread more spyware to those in a trusted circle and gives the attacker an opportunity reach out to the friends or followers of the victims to scam money in many other ways.

These same hackers may also be enjoying access to a person's email account which may have a trove of data leading to even more usernames and passwords, either contained in an attachment or a cloud-based document. Having access to a hacked email account also allows the criminal hacker to reset of many of the victim's passwords on other accounts as well.

Here are ways you can protect your identity:

1) Invest in Internet security software and keep it auto-updated.

2) Go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.

3) Invest in identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing hacked Hotmail accounts on Fox News.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Intelius to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

iPhone and iPod Touch 3.1.3: security patches

Posted by kent on February 4th, 2010

Apple has very quietly, almost too quietly, release a software update for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The 3.1.3 update was released on Tuesday, and seemed to be pretty inconsequential at first: a fix for the battery meter, some remedies for third-party app crashes, and something to do with Japanese keyboard layouts. Seemed like something I could do without for the moment. I rarely sync my phone, except when my music library starts to feel stale.

But buried below these minor fixes is another bit of info: The new version also patches five security holes. Three of these aren't likely to affect most users as they involve FTP servers or someone getting physical access to the device. Two of them are media exploits, however, one concerning images and one concerning sound. All the holes could leave iPhones and iPod Touches vulnerable to outside control.

So, if you haven't already, plug in your device, load up iTunes, and install the new software. And a note to Apple: Let us know it's a security patch; we're much more likely to update our devices over that, than a fix for the Japanese keyboard.

Top 8 worst Twitter social media hacks

Posted by Robert Siciliano on February 3rd, 2010

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger.

In the past year, the use of Twitter has increased dramatically. And so has the criminal hacker’s attention to the opportunity to use it for illicit gain. Here are the top-eight worst types of Twitter social media hacks:

1. Jacked Twitter Accounts: Numerous Twitter (and Facebook) accounts, including those belonging to President Obama, Britney Spears, Fox News and others, were taken over and used to ridicule, harass, or commit fraud.
2. Social Media Identity Theft: Hundreds of impostor accounts are set up every day. Sarah Palin, St Louis Cardinals Coach Tony LaRussa, Kanye West, Huffington Post and many others have had Twitter accounts opened in their names or names similar to theirs.
3. Twitter Worms: Worms infiltrate Twitter sending requests to click on links that, in turn, infect user accounts and begin to multiply the message. Followers of infected accounts get the requests, and then their followers get them, causing more grief than anything else.
4. Twitter DOS Attack: Twitter itself was victimized by a denial-of-service attack that left the site dark for more than three hours. Reports indicated that a politically motivated attack in Russia seemed to be the cause.
5. Twitter used as a Botnet Controller: A Twitter account produced links that led to commands to download code to run a botnet.
6. Twitter Phishing: Cybercriminals use tweets to draw users to spoofed sites and trick them into entering account or financial information. It's a crime that's on the rise.
7. Twitter Porn: Please, “Misty Buttons” stop sending me another invite to chat or see your pics.
8. Twitter Spam: The use of short URLs has made Twitter's 140-character limit the perfect launch pad for spam leading to diet pills, Viagra and whatever else you don’t need.

With Twitter now a part of the daily routines of millions of people, who login from home or work, it will undoubtedly play a big role in the criminal hacking community in 2010.

Protect your identity:

1. If you're a victim of identity theft, get a credit freeze. Click on the preceding link and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief, but it also makes it impossible for you to open any new accounts yourself.
2. Invest in social media protection at Knowem.com.
3. Go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.
4. Invest in  identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Intelius to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing social media identity theft on CNN.

I want to own my website address. Can I own my own name and still have it hosted?

Posted by kent on February 2nd, 2010

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:

Q: I want to own my website address-my time is near for renewal with my hosting company but I don't feel comfortable with them paying for it. Can I own my own name and still have it hosted?

A: This is an interesting question, because it brings up the question of just who owns a domain. We talk about "domain ownership" and "buying a domain" but the truth is, no one ever owns their domain. Not even Yahoo! or Google. Which is to say that domain registration is always a yearly expenditure. It's a bit like paying your annual car registration fees (and if you don't pay your car registration, the DMV will eventually haul your car away). Your web host is either a licensed domain registrar or they work with someone who is.

But you shouldn't worry about your web hosting company "owning" your domain if you signed up for web hosting under a free-registration-for-life plan. The web host has registered the domain in your name, just as if you'd registered the domain without them. You're only eligible for free registration as long as you host with the company. But they won't continue to if you're no longer a customer; payment responsibility will revert back to you (and it's up to you to transfer it to a new web host or registrar).

Now, I'm sure they wouldn't mind at all if you called up and said you wanted to pay instead. You'd save them $30.00 or so per year. But it's probably more trouble than it's worth, for them and for you. The most important thing is to not let your registration lapse. We should also say that it's always possible that some web host does things a little differently, but this is how it works with most of them.

Baby boomers guilty of oversharing on Facebook

Posted by kent on January 26th, 2010

A new study from Experian concludes that adults over the age of 45 share too much information online. The credit score reporting company completed a study of  1,052 men and women, analyzing their behavior on social networks. The study found that "14 percent of adults – and 20 percent of those age 60 and over – listed their full home addresses in their social media profiles."

The risks are the same that we've reported on before: posting vacation plans can lead to a burglary and a favorite pet's name can inadvertently disclose a the answer to a security question. None of this is new, but what's interesting is how this study focused on the habits of baby boomers. Experian did not provide any data on how it compares to the habits of younger users, so it's hard to say if this is particularly significant.

Age aside, it does point out problems with the confusing privacy settings on social networking sites. You don't have to be over the age of forty to be confused by Facebook's privacy settings. Founder Mark Zuckerberg was caught unaware by Facebook's confusing new privacy settings, which allowed his previously private photos to be viewed by any interested Facebook user. The photos have since been made private.

I use Facebook probably far more frequently than I should and I've gone through the various Facebook privacy changes myself, and not without a bit of confusion. It seems to me that Facebook could really help all its users understand the privacy settings by creating a simple interface that would allow them to view their own profiles from different relationship levels. Facebook users would understand the rules far better if they could directly see how another user would experience their profile.

Zuckerberg recently commented on Facebook's new privacy settings, saying that: "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people." While I agree with Zuckerberg in spirit, I think it's problematic to allow user comfort to drive privacy policy. As the Experian study shows, people become comfortable with a lot of behaviors that can leave them exposed.

All social networks need to do a better job of helping users understand how public their data is. Building those rules into intuitive, experiential tools could go a long way to doing that.

What protection is available once your identity has been stolen?

Posted by Caitlin on January 25th, 2010

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question:

Q: I would like to get information on what protection is available for a person who identity is already stolen and is being attempted to be used. I was wondering about instant alerts any time my name or credit is trying to be used or credit being extended. Please contact me with this information at your earliest convenience. Thank you!

A: What you have described in your question is called a fraud alert, and it is definitely a good idea to set these alerts with the credit bureaus if you believe that your identity has been stolen. Once you set a fraud alert with one credit bureau, that bureau will notify the other two. Fraud alerts expire after 90 days, so you'll need to reset them if you want to continue to be protected. LifeLock, one of our top-reviewed identity theft protection services, can help walk you through the process of setting fraud alerts and send you reminders when they need to be reset.

You may also want to consider a credit freeze, which would lock down your credit report to prevent any new accounts from being opened in your name. The details of setting a credit freeze vary depending on your state, but you would have to pay a small fee of $10.00 or so to set the freeze, and again when you are ready to unfreeze your account. You would have to set the credit freeze with each bureau individually, and pay the fee three times. You can learn more about freezing your credit and setting fraud alerts at ConsumersUnion.org.

It is a good idea to invest in an identity theft protection service, since in addition to taking measures to prevent and detect identity theft, most of these services will also help you restore your identity if you do become a victim. To learn more about LifeLock and other identity theft protection services, see our reviews and comparison chart.