Yahoo! Small Business Web Hosting: 50% off
September 10th, 2009 - Posted by Kent
Yahoo! Small Business Web Hosting has dropped a nice little surprise discount by offering the first year of its web hosting package for $4.99 per month. That comes in at 50%-off of their normal price of $9.95 per month. This marks a substantial savings from one of our best reviewed web hosting providers. Yahoo! keeps its web hosting under the monicker of Yahoo! Small Business, which is a bit unfortunate, as it probably drives away individuals looking to host personal sites.
For individuals or businesses new to web hosting, Yahoo! Small Business gets our top recommendation. They don't boast the fastest data transfer speeds around, but their interface and customer service are top notch. While we reviewed a number of compelling web hosting services, only Yahoo! takes you through the process step-by-step; you always know exactly what to do and when. Our main complaint had been the price of the service, but with the current discount, that argument is moot.
In the grand tradition of offer notifications, here are some details you should know: the price is good for the first twelve months. The offer expires October 8th, 2009. It's also for new accounts only. Also, registration and setup are free, but domain privacy (which we recommend) will cost you an extra dollar per month.
To get this price, just follow any links to Yahoo! Small Business from NextAdvisor, such as this link right here. Or, you can read our reviews and see how Yahoo!'s web hosting stacks up against the competition.
Identity thieves skim credit cards stolen from gym lockers
September 9th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin
Our identity theft guest expert, Robert Siciliano, is quite vigilant in his attempts to keep readers informed about the dangers of ATM skimming, as well as other scams that can lead to identity theft. When you think of skimming, the first thing that comes to mind may be an ATM that has been tampered with, but as Robert Siciliano pointed out in his most recent post, there are other ways for thieves to skim data from your credit card, such as when you hand it over to a store clerk to make a purchase.
Last week, two Colorado men and one woman were convicted of a number of financial crimes, including identity theft and racketeering. They stole credit cards from gym lockers at a number of different gyms, skimmed the credit card numbers from the stolen cards, and then loaded the stolen numbers onto old credit cards, which they used to make purchases at various stores, including Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Toys-R-Us. They also used the credit card skimmer to steal credit card numbers from customers at a local Taco Bell. While this particular scam has come to an end, it's worth noting the ease with which these criminals were able to skim credit card numbers without their victims' knowledge.
As we've said many times at NextAdvisor.com, one of the best ways to protect yourself from this type of scam is to check your bank and credit card statements often, and to refute any unauthorized charges within 60 days. You should also consider investing in identity theft protection, which will help prevent and detect new account fraud.
You know that minimum credit card purchase requirements aren't allowed, right?
September 9th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin
Many merchants post signs near the cash register, stating that you must spend above a certain amount in order to be allowed to use a credit or even a debit card. However, these minimum credit card purchase requirements violate MasterCard and Visa's merchant agreements. Obviously, many retailers choose to disregard this rule, and they generally get away with it. Their position is understandable, since the merchant has to pay a fee to the credit card company whenever a customer uses a credit card, and paying that fee seems less worthwhile when the customer is making a $2.00 purchase. But technically, if credit cards are accepted, the retailer must accept them for any purchase, regardless of amount.
NonToxicReviews.com has created a nifty little wallet card that references MasterCard and Visa's merchant agreements, to prove his point in the event of a dispute with a merchant. If you do choose to challenge a retailer who attempts to enforce a mimimum credit card purchase requirement, you will be in the right, and this convenient card may facilitate your argument.
Personally, though, I'm not sure that I'd be comfortable doing so. Despite the rules of the merchant agreement, I sympathize with the retailer's position and would feel uncomfortable mounting a challenge. What about you? Would you hold a merchant to the rules, and demand to be allowed to pay with your credit card? Would you use NonToxicReviews.com's card to help get your way? Or would you just respect the retailer's wishes and pay with cash, or purchase additional items in order to meet the requirement?
To learn more about credit cards and to compare terms and conditions, see our credit card reviews and comparison chart.
Preventing ATM skimming
September 8th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
Skimming is one of the financial industry's fastest-growing crimes, according to the U.S. Secret Service. The worldwide ATM Industry Association reports over $1 billion in annual global losses from credit card fraud and electronic crime associated with ATMs.
Skimming can occur in a few different ways. The most common is when a store clerk takes your card and runs it through a device that copies the information from the magnetic strip. Once the thief has the credit or debit card data, he or she can place orders over the phone or online. Thieves can also copy the data on blank cards, or "white" cards. White cards are effective at self checkouts, or when the thief knows the clerk and is able to "sweetheart" the transaction. A white card can also be pressed with foils to look like a legitimate credit card, as seen in this video.
The PCI Security Standards Council provides guidelines designed to help merchants securely store and transmit card account data and prevent it from falling into the hands of criminals. Retailers who fail to comply with PCI's standards can be fined up to $500,000 by credit card providers such as Visa and MasterCard. PCI recently released a series of recommendations for the prevention of skimming scams. "Skimming is becoming a widespread problem. These are guidelines for what retailers should be looking at with their reader devices", says Bob Russo, general manager of the PCI SSC. "We discuss different techniques for protecting those point-of-sale devices."
The PCI Council's "Skimming Prevention: Best Practices for Merchants" guidelines include a risk assessment questionnaire and self-evaluation forms to gauge susceptibility to these types of attacks and to determine where they need to shore up their defenses. The guidelines cover how to educate and protect employees who handle the point of sale devices from being targeted, as well as ways to prevent and deter compromise of those devices. They also detail how to identify a rigged reader and what to do about it, and how physical location of the devices and stores can raise risk.
Thieves can completely replace a merchant's point of sale terminal with a device that is rigged to record or divert card data wirelessly, or simply store the data until the criminal comes back and removes it. (This is what happened to Stop and Shop.)
Criminals can also place a device on the face of an ATM, which appears to be a part of the machine. It's almost impossible for civilians to know the difference unless they have an eye for security, or the skimmer is of poor quality. Often, the thieves will hide a small pinhole camera in a brochure holder near the ATM, in order to extract the victim's pin number. Gas pumps are equally vulnerable to this type of scam.
A customer at a New York City bank discovered a skimming device on the face of an ATM, and went inside the bank to inform the branch manager. The manager, who had never seen an ATM skimmer and wasn't sure what to do, took the skimmer and thanked him. The customer then remembered, from numerous reports about ATM skimming, that there is usually a second part to the ATM skimmer. the camera. In this case, he found it behind a small mirror that alerts the ATM user to beware of "shoulder surfers." He brought the camera to the bank manager, who replied by saying, "Maybe we should shut that machine down, huh?" The bank manager contacted bank security, shut down the machine, and alerted other area banks.
To help combat this type of crime, ADT unveiled the ADT Anti-Skim ATM Security Solution, which helps prevent skimming attempts and detects skimming devices on all major ATM makes and models. ADT's anti-skim solution is installed inside an ATM near the card reader, making it invisible from the outside. The solution detects the presence of foreign devices placed over or near an ATM card entry slot, without disrupting the customer transaction or operation of most ATMs. It can trigger a silent alarm for command center response and coordinate video surveillance of all skimming activities. Also, the technology helps prevent card-skimming attempts by interrupting the operation of an illegal card reader. This technology does not require any software adjustments be made to the ATM itself, and does not connect to or affect the ATM communications network. Prior to its North American introduction, the ADT Anti-Skim ATM Security Solution was successfully field tested on dozens of ATMs of four major U.S. financial institutions in controlled pilot programs. Testing pilots yielded positive results, with no known skimming compromises occurring.
You can protect yourself from these types of scams by paying attention to your statements and refuting any unauthorized transactions within 60 days. When using an ATM, pay close attention to details, and look for anything that seems out of place. If your card gets stuck in the machine or you notice anything odd about the appearance of the machine, such as wires, double sided tape, error messages, a missing security camera, or if the machine seems unusually old and run down, don't use it. Don't use just any ATM. Instead, look for ATMs in more secure locations. Use strong PINs, with both upper and lowercase letters, as well as numbers. And invest in identity theft protection. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.
Robert Siciliano, identity theft expert, discusses ATM skimming on Fox News.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vL26u-D8EU[/youtube]
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 Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
Lunarpages coupon: $50-off makes a sweet deal
September 8th, 2009 - Posted by Kent
Highly rated web hosting provider Lunarpages is offering a $50 coupon which essentially cuts the cost of a year's hosting in half. We're not sure how long this will last (the coupon code is LABORDAY, after all), but it works as of Today at 11:30am. $57.40 per year (or $4.78 per month) is a real bargain for a host of this caliber. In our tests, Lunarpages showed excellent data transfer speeds, and we were impressed with the user interface and site builder as well.
To get the $50-off coupon, just follow one of our links and enter the code LABORDAY at check-out. You can see how Lunarpages compares to other web hosts we reviewed with our web hosting reviews and comparison chart.
Facebook Fan Check virus: a collateral threat
September 8th, 2009 - Posted by Kent
Rumors abound that a Facebook app called Fan Check is a nasty piece of malware. While the jury is still out on whether this app is actually dangerous, viruses are still being spread because of it. It seems that makers of scareware (fake anti-virus programs that dupe you into downloading more malware) are profiting due to searches for "Facebook Fan Check Virus." Scared Facebook users are going to sites that purport to remove the virus, only to find they end up with more problems than they started with.
It's only natural that people turn to search engines to find out about viruses. Unfortunately it's also only natural that cybercriminals turn to searches on these viruses to spread other viruses. It's an ugly world.
Our most recent Internet security software tests happened before this scareware campaign began, but we've definitely encountered our fair share of fake anti-virus sites. Trend Micro's Internet security software proved to be incredibly vigilant in alerting us to the fake sites.
If you're looking for information on the latest threats, we suggest using the resources provided by your Internet security software provider. Almost all ISS companies provide a database of known threats. You can usually access this directly through the security software's interface. Or you can go directly to the site of the Internet security software provider.
As always, make sure you have Internet security software installed and all your virus definitions are up-to-date. You can check out our reviews and ratings of Internet security software, including the latest on the 2010 products here.
Credit card identity theft fears loom
September 3rd, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano
Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger
A recent study found that, in the midst of the global financial crisis, American's primary fear is credit and debit card fraud. 68% of those surveyed are extremely or very concerned about the security of their credit or debit card data, and 66% are extremely or very concerned about identity theft.
Compare that to 58% who are extremely or very concerned about terrorism and war, and 41% who fear the possibility of a serious health epidemic.
Credit card fraud comes in two different flavors: account takeover and new account fraud. Account takeover occurs when an identity thief gains access to your credit or debit card number through criminal hacking, dumpster diving, ATM skimming, or perhaps when you hand it over to pay at a store or restaurant. Technically, account takeover is the most prevalent form of identity theft, though I've always viewed it as simple credit card fraud.
Federal laws limit cardholder liability to $50 in the case of credit card fraud, as long as the cardholder disputes the charge within 60 days. Debit card fraud victims must notify the bank within two days in order to be protected by this $50 limit. After that, the maximum liability jumps to $500. And if a victim doesn't discover or report the fraud until after 60 days have passed, the liability could be the entire card balance, for a debit or credit card. Once your debit card is compromised, you might not find out until a check bounces or the card is declined. And once you do recover the funds, the thief can just start all over again, unless you cancel the account altogether.
Protecting yourself from account takeover is relatively easy. Simply pay attention to your statements every month and refute unauthorized charges immediately. I check my charges online once every two weeks. If I'm traveling extensively, especially out of the country, I let the credit card company know ahead of time, so they won't shut down my card while I'm on the road.
Protecting yourself from new account fraud requires more effort. You can attempt to protect your own identity, by getting yourself a credit freeze, or setting up your own fraud alerts. There are pros and cons to each. Another good option is to invest in identity theft protection, because when all else fails, you'll have someone watching your back.
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 Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.
NextAdvisor launches remote desktop reviews
September 3rd, 2009 - Posted by Kent
We are please today to announce the newest review category here at NextAdvisor: Remote Desktop Services (known interchangeably as Remote Access or Remote Desktop Access). Remote Desktop is a technology that allows users to access one PC with another. Once just a tool for traveling professionals to access their work files while on the road, remote access is increasingly being used to manage home networks, control media PCs, and provide remote tech support for less-computer savvy friends and family.
We put the big names like Symantec up against relative newcomers to see which provides the best, most trouble-free service for the money. You might be surprised what our reviews turned up. As always, we offer a comprehensive comparison chart, full reviews, and an FAQ.
PCWorld's Internet Security Trends Update
September 3rd, 2009 - Posted by Kent
PCWorld has released their Internet Security Trends Update which details the biggest threats in cyberspace. Among the trends which seem to dominate: financial crisis scams, social media exploits, fake anti-virus software (or "scareware"), malware, phishing, the list goes on and on. The trend seems to be that cybercriminals are doing a bit of everything to get by.
Part of protecting yourself is being smart. We put together a guide to protecting your identity on Facebook. Also, As new threats emerge, Internet security software responds. Make sure to check out the reviews for new 2010 Internet security software. So far we've reviewed new products for Kaspersky, Zone Alarm, and Trend Micro.
Seriously, people, check your statements!
September 2nd, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin
As you probably know by now, federal law limits your liability to $50 for unauthorized credit card charges. But that limit only applies if you notify your bank within 60 days. That's why it's absolutely crucial to check your bank and credit card statements regularly.
One Colorado retiree learned this lesson the hard way. Don Godding never looked at his statements. He simply made his minimum payments of $200 every month, without ever knowing his actual balance. So when an identity thief charged almost $11,000 to Godding's credit card within two months, Godding had no idea until it was too late. Since Goddard continued paying and never contested the charges, Bank of America assumed that they were legitimate, and when the card was overdrawn, Bank of America demanded $2,500 immediately. Since Goddard didn't have $2,500, he decided to transfer his entire balance to a Chase account. By doing so, he assumed complete liability for the debt, and now he's been forced to take a part time job to pay his $500 minimum each month.
There are protections for consumers, but you have to take on some degree of personal responsibility in order to benefit from those protections. Godding blames himself, and says, "Pay attention. Observe. Watch what you're doing." Take his advice, and check your statements often. For additional protection, you may want to consider credit report monitoring or identity theft protection.
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