Department of Homeland Security Urges Employees To Get Identity Theft
Protection After Security Breach

This week, the discovery of a security vulnerability dating back to July 2009 has caused a stir in the Department of Homeland Security. Thousands of DHS employees have been notified that their personal information, which include names, Social Security numbers and birthdays may have been exposed, though the agency states that it is uncertain whether an unauthorized user has accessed the information. This vulnerability in the database software was sealed immediately.

To help protect the employees, the DHS is urging their employees to sign up for fraud alerts and to start monitoring their credit reports. 

Over 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2012, and as you can see, not even Homeland Security employees are safe from fraud. This is where identity theft protection services come in. For an affordable monthly fee, the top services provide daily monitoring of your credit reports, public records, credit cards and Social Security. Some of the top services even provide free Internet security software.

Visit our identity theft protection comparison page to read full reviews of the most popular identity theft protection services, compare them side-by-side and sign up for free trials.

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Congratulations to Our Grand Prize Winner of the NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway!

Congratulations to our Grand Prize Winner! The fourth winner of our NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway is Elle Briarson. Elle will receive the Grand Prize of $200 cash from the contest.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest. We hope that you continue to enjoy all of the reviews, blogs, tips and deals that NextAdvisor has to offer!

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Congratulations to the Third Winner of the NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway!

We have another winner! The third winner of our NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway is Nadine Larsen. Nadine will receive the $150 cash prize from the contest, but there is still more to come.

We’ll pick our big $200 grand prize winner THIS FRIDAY, so don’t forget to fill out our survey to enter!

And let’s give a hearty congratulations to Nadine Larsen on her big win!

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Congratulations to the Second
NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway Winner!

More good news! The second winner of our NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway is Alicia Boyde. Alicia will receive the first $100 cash prize from the contest, but there is still more to come. We’ll pick our $150 prize winner this Friday and next Friday we’ll give away a $200 grand prize to one of our lucky fans, so don’t forget to fill out our survey to enter!

And let’s give a hearty congratulations to Alicia Boyde on her big win!

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Congratulations to the First
NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway Winner!

It’s time to celebrate! The first winner of our NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway is Michelle Gonzalez. Michelle will receive the first $50 cash prize from the contest, but there is still more to come. We’ll pick our next $100 winner on Friday, a $150 prize the following Friday and on the last Friday, we’ll give away a $200 grand prize to one of our lucky fans, so don’t forget to fill out our survey to enter!

And let’s give a hearty congratulations to Michelle Gonzalez for the first win!

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Enter the NextAdvisor $500 Giveaway!

Need a little extra spending cash for the summer months? We are giving away a total of $500 to 4 of our lucky Google+ followers! We will be drawing 4 winners over the course of a month. The first winner, picked March 22, will win $50. The second winner, picked on March 29, will win $100. The third winner, picked on April 5, will win $150. And the last winner, picked on April 12, will win $200. You must follow all instructions below to enter. Good luck!

First, follow us on Google+:

Next, answer a few questions for us:

(OPTIONAL) Enter your email to sign up for our newsletter

Terms and Conditions

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Hackers Attack Apple Employees,
Infect Mac Computers

Apple Inc. has confirmed that the same hackers that attacked Facebook last week have hacked into several of their corporate computers. The malicious software infected the computers when several employees went to a site designed for software developers. The malware was designed specifically for Mac computers and was the widest known cyber attacks targeting Apple computers used by corporations.

The company says that this is the same hacking campaign that hit Facebook last week and Twitter at the beginning of February. The Twitter hack may have compromised the information of about 250,000 users. Apple also said that the attack may have affected other companies that use Mac computers.

With Mac viruses and malware on the rise, it's always a good idea to install security software on your Mac computer. Check out our Mac security software compare page to see what security software might be right for your computer.

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ING Direct, Capital One 360:
What Savers Need to Know

United States savers with accounts at ING Direct bid farewell to the little orange ball this month, saying hello to Capital One's red and blue colors instead. Customers who log into their Orange Savings accounts will notice that they are redirected to a Capital One 360 savings page, but not to fear — everything other than the logo, colors and slight change to customer service hours (8 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET 7 days/week) is still the same.

Just like with the orange savings account, the 360 savings is currently offering a .75% APY and no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. They still have the same convenient electronic transfer features and mobile application. Read our full review of Capital One 360 and don't forget to check out our savings account comparison page to see which one will make you the most money.

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Data Privacy Day: How to Remove
Your Information From the Internet

As the Internet has become an integral part of our daily lives, more of our personal information is becoming less personal. It is for this very reason that we have International Data Privacy Day, which is celebrated on January 28th each year to help raise awareness and promote education about online privacy.

Most people are okay with their personal data being online, simply clicking on "I agree" at any kind of privacy policy prompt without reading the fine print. But more often than not, many users aren't really aware of what kind of information they're giving up, and how valuable their personal data can be for businesses and advertising. If you're fed up with all of your information being online, the bad news is that there isn't a virtual index card with your data you can simply pull out of the web. The better news is that there are some steps you can take to delete some of your Internet footprints:

- Check out Google’s removal request tool: Google has a great tool that allows you to ask Google to remove search results or cached content if you believe the information warrants removal from Google's services based on applicable laws. This is a simple form that can be filled out in a matter of minutes.

- Deleting accounts: When deleting accounts, you will notice that some sites simply “deactivate” them. A tip for these situations is to delete every bit of your information from these sites, then link the site to a newly-created email address, and then delete that email address. If you want to permanently delete your Facebook account without the option of reactivating it later on, type Facebook.com/help/delete_account into your address bar. The only problem is, even after you delete your Facebook, some of your data footprints, especially those shared with third party applications, may still remain, which is explained in their privacy policy.

- Contact sites directly: This is definitely a tedious process, but you can contact particular sites and companies that have your personal information and politely ask them to erase it. If you find incorrect information about yourself on a background or people search site, check out this blog post that explains some ways you can remove the inaccurate information.

- Do not track: AVG security software has developed a tool that allows you to opt out of tracking on most web browsers. This means that browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox won’t be able to track your Internet behavior.

- Keep your identity protected: Remember, if you find false information, or are afraid that your data is being used fraudulently, signing up for an identity theft protection service can help notify you of any fraudulent activity concerning your identity.

The most important thing to keep in mind when  protecting your online privacy, is to be aware. Until there is further innovation that closes the rift between usability and consumer privacy, it is always a great idea to read privacy policies on sites that you know you will be entering any kind of personal information. Awareness is a great prevention tool, even if reading the fine print can be tedious.

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Carbonite Currents: New Syncing
Application from Carbonite

Already the leader in online backup, Carbonite just released a free new application called "Currents" that allows users to sync files across all of their devices. This is a smart add-on for Carbonite, since a home backup subscription only backs up one computer but this application can be used to sync and store files from multiple devices. Similar to many of the services we review in our cloud storage rankings, Currents offers a sleek and intuitive desktop application as well as applications for your Android and iPhone. In the product release they write:

"Now, you can simply save your work as you normally do and then access what you need with Currents whenever and wherever you need to, while all your documents remain secure and encrypted."

With Currents, you can save files on one device and work on them on another. Like with most cloud storage services, any updates you make on a single file will be reflected through all of your devices. Another positive is that you can view previous versions of files as well, the ultimate redo button. You can also share and collaborate on files with others, with settings that allow you to control who can view, edit or collaborate on files, plus the ability to make comments for your collaborators. Check out Carbonite's video for Currents:

With Carbonite's excellent track record in home and business backup solutions, Currents seems like a promising new addition to the Carbonite family. You can download it for free at Labs.Carbonite.com, on your Android phone, and soon you can get it for your iPhone. Stay tuned for our full review of the new application and be sure to check out our review on Carbonite online backup.

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