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The moment you hop online, you lose a little privacy. How much depends on what you’re doing and what steps you’ve put in place to protect your privacy. The reality is that any online activity will generate data. As you surf, bank, and shop, data gets created. From there, other parties collect, analyze, and sometimes sell or share that data with others.
The most notable example of this is, of course, social media. Social media companies gather hosts of data and personal information about their users in exchange for free use of their platforms. Yet similar data collection happens far more broadly online. Internet service providers (ISPs) will often gather browsing data and information about their users. Some search engines will also gather information about their users, their searches, and where those searches take them. Another high-value form of data collection entails location tracking. App creators, ISPs, cell phone companies, and others will pair what you’re doing online with where and when you’re doing it.
Make no mistake that all this data has value. Whether it gets collected for advertising purposes, or to generate profit by selling data to others, your privacy has a price tag on it. Yet you have some say in all this. You can take several steps that can minimize the data trail that you create by going online. Put simply, you can take control of your privacy online.
→ Dig Deeper: How Data Brokers Sell Your Identity
Although data creation and collection naturally come with using the Internet, you can take several steps to make you and your data more private. Some of it comes down to behavior, while other steps involve settings and technologies that help cover your tracks. Here are 10 ways you can stay more private online:
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting—not to mention your relationships and likes. Put another way, keeping your profile public makes it searchable by search engines. Your profile is out there for anyone to see.
Taking a “friends only” approach to your social media profiles can help protect your privacy because that gives a possible scammer or stalker significantly less material to work with. Yet further, some platforms allow you to create sub-groups of friends and followers. With a quick review of your network, you can create a subgroup of your most trusted friends and restrict your posts to them as needed.
→ Dig Deeper: Over 10 Million Facebook Users Hacked in Ongoing Phishing Scam
Different devices and platforms will have their own privacy settings, so give them a look and see what your options are. For example, Facebook offers an entire page dedicated to privacy settings and offers a Privacy Checkup as well.
As for devices, Windows and Mac OS have extensive privacy controls available. Android provides visual guides on the topic, and Apple has a similar resource for iOS users as well. A quick search about privacy on any device, platform, or app should turn up some helpful results that can get you started if you have questions.
→ Dig Deeper: Privacy, Identity, and Device Protection: Why You Need to Invest in All Three
Privacy policies spell out what data a company might be collecting, for what purposes, what they do with it, and if they might share or otherwise sell it to third parties. The language in privacy policies can get somewhat long and complex. However, several companies have been making good faith efforts to explain their privacy policies in plain language on user-friendly websites.
Google provides a good example of this, which includes a link to their Privacy Checkup experience. Additionally, Apple offers users on iOS 15.2 or higher an app privacy report that shows what iPhone features and data apps have recently accessed. Once again, a web search will help point you to similar resources for the devices, platforms, and apps you use.
→ Dig Deeper: What Personal Data Do Companies Track?
Location tracking has become a prominent form of data collection. Smartphone applications are usually the prime culprits. Thankfully, you can easily disable the location-sharing feature on an app-by-app basis. Some apps allow you to enable location services only when in use, while for others, you can entirely disable location services. An alternative option is to set the app to ask for permission each time. This is an effective way to find out if any apps are using location services without your knowledge. For iPhone users, this can be found in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Android users can go to Settings > Locations > App Location Permissions.
Deactivating location sharing in your apps doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll stop seeing location-based ads. Advertisers often guess your general location by looking at your internet connection. They might not know your exact address, but they can get a pretty good idea of which city or town you’re in.
If you’ve been using the internet for a while, you likely have several old accounts that you no longer use or have forgotten about. Old accounts may still contain your personal data, exposing it to potential hackers or cyber thieves. It’s advisable to close any old accounts that you no longer need. Before doing this, ensure that you delete as much personal data from them as possible.
Deleting an account is often more complicated than simply not using it anymore. In many cases, you’ll have to contact the company or service provider to close your account. If you can’t find information on how to delete your account, a quick web search can often lead you to step-by-step instructions.
McAfee Pro Tip: Your online presence expands as you create more internet accounts, and these accounts may potentially be leveraged by data brokers or third parties to gain access to your personal data. Improve your data security by erasing unused or old accounts to eliminate public-facing information. Know how to delete old accounts containing personal information.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) can significantly enhance your online privacy. A VPN encrypts your internet connection, making it harder for third parties to track your online activities or capture your personal information. While connected to a VPN, your ISP can only see that you’re connected to a VPN server, but not what websites you visit or what data you’re transferring.
Besides protecting your data, VPNs can also prevent websites and online services from tracking your physical location. This can be particularly useful if you’re accessing the internet in a region with stringent internet censorship or if you want to access region-locked content.
Many people are surprised when they Google themselves and see how much information about them is publicly available. Data brokers collect information from various sources and make it available to anyone willing to pay for it. This can include personal information, such as your home address, estimated income, shopping habits, and more.
Fortunately, you can take steps to clean up your personal data trail. Start by Googling yourself to find out what information about you is publicly available. Next, contact the websites or data brokers that publish this information and request them to remove it. Several online services can help you with this process by automating it and making it more efficient.
→ Dig Deeper: How Data Brokers Sell Your Identity
Online privacy is a serious concern in today’s digital age. While it’s impossible to completely avoid data collection, there are numerous steps you can take to protect your personal data and make your online activities more private. These include being strategic with your social media settings, regularly reviewing your privacy settings, understanding the privacy policies of the apps you use, disabling location sharing, deactivating old accounts, using a VPN, and cleaning up your personal data trail. For added protection, use a comprehensive security solution such as McAfee+ Ultimate, which comes with features like password manager, antivirus software, and firewall protection; users can efficiently navigate the internet while avoiding online threats.
Whether we admit it or not, a significant portion of our privacy is within our control. By becoming more aware of what data we share and who we share it with, we can make decisions that protect our privacy. In an era where data is the new oil, taking steps to safeguard our digital privacy is more important than ever.
The post 10 Tips to Keep Your Data Private Online appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Welcome to the new normal. We’re all now living in a post-COVID-19 world characterized by uncertainty, mass home working and remote learning. The lines demarcating normal life have shifted abruptly – perhaps never to return. That’s not the worst that can happen, as we all know, but it does mean we all need to get used to new ways of living, working and studying from home. This has major implications for the online safety, security and privacy of our families.
To help you adapt to these new conditions while protecting what matters most, Trend Micro has developed a two-part blog series on “The New Normal.” Part 1 identifies the scope and specific cyber-threats of the new normal. Part 2 provides security tips and products to help address those threats.
In April, nearly 300 million Americans were estimated to be in government-mandated lockdown. Even as some businesses, municipalities and states begin to relax these rules, experts have warned of subsequent waves of the virus, which could result in new localized lockdowns. In short, a lot of people will continue to work from home, while their children, also at home, attempt to study remotely from their mobile devices.
This has considerable implications for how we spend our time. Without that morning commute to work or school, more of it than ever will involve sitting in front of a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone screen. Even the smart TV is enlisted. Dangers include
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Unfortunately, the increase in working from home (WFH), especially for those not used to it, may lead to an increase in risky behavior, such as: using non-approved apps for work; visiting non work-related sites on work devices; and using personal devices to access work resources. Recent global Trend Micro research found that:
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This is not about restricting your freedom to visit the sites you want to visit while at home. It’s about reducing the risk of exposing corporate data and systems to possible malware.
Unsurprisingly, there has also been a major uptick in the volume of cyber-threats targeting home users. With a captive audience to aim at, it’s a huge opportunity for cyber-criminals to steal your log-ins and personal data to sell to fraudsters, or even to steal corporate passwords and information for a potentially bigger pay-off. They are helped by the fact that many home workers may be more distracted than they usually would be at the office, especially if they have young children. Your kids may even share the same laptops or PCs as you, potentially visiting risky sites and/or downloading unapproved apps.
There’s also a chance that, unless you have a corporate machine at home, your personal computing equipment is less secure than the kit you had in the office. Add to that the fact that support from the IT department may be less forthcoming than usual, given that stretched teams are overwhelmed with requests, while themselves struggling to WFH. One recent report claimed that nearly half (47%) of IT security pros have been taken off some or all of their typical security tasks to support other IT-related jobs. In another, only 59% of respondents said they believe their cybersecurity team has the right tools and resources at home to perform their job effectively.
It’s time to step up and take security into your own hands. Stay on the lookout for the following threats.
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So what’s a remote worker/concerned parent to do to protect themselves and the family in the midst of the “new normal?”
Read Part 2 in this mini-series, which we’re publishing simultaneously with Part 1, where we share some best practice advice on how to keep your digital lives and work systems safe from online threats during lockdown—and where we provide tools to help you do just that.
The post Top Tips For Home Cybersecurity And Privacy In A Coronavirus-Impacted World (Part 1) appeared first on .
The past few months have seen radical changes to our work and home life under the Coronavirus threat, upending norms and confining millions of American families within just four walls. In this context, it’s not surprising that more of us are spending an increasing portion of our lives online. But this brings with it some familiar cyber-risks. In Part 1 of this mini-series, we explained how cyber-criminals are looking to capitalize on these sweeping changes to society to further their own ends.
Now let’s take a look at what you can do to protect your family, your data, and access to your corporate accounts.
The bad guys are laser-focused on stealing your personal data and log-ins and increasingly see the remote worker as an easy target for leapfrogging into corporate networks. That’s not to mention the potential internet safety risks inherent in bored kids spending more time in front of their screens. To respond, you’ll need to create an equally focused “home security plan” governed by sensible policies and best practices. Here are some of the key areas to consider.
Protect your smart home and router
Increasingly, unprotected smart home devices are being targeted by cyber-criminals to turn into botnets to attack others. They might also provide sophisticated attackers with a stepping-stone into your corporate systems, via the home network. The home router, with its known flaws, is (after the modem) the digital front door to the smart home and the basis for your networking, so it should be first in any security strategy. Consider the following when tackling home network security:
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Secure your home office
Cyber-criminals are primed to take advantage of distracted home workers and potentially less secure PCs/devices. Secure this environment by doing the following:
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Stay safe from phishing
Phishing is the number one tactic used by attackers to trick you into installing malware or handing over your log-ins. Emails, text messages, social media messages and more are spoofed to appear as if sent by a legitimate company or contact. In response:
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Use video conferencing safely
New videoconferencing platforms can introduce risk, especially if you’re not familiar with the default settings. Here’s how to stay safe when video conferencing:
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Stay safe shopping and banking
Next, protect your financial information and stay safe from e-commerce fraud by doing the following:
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Think about online safety for kids
They may be under your roof for more hours of the day than usual, but your children are also likely to be spending more time online. That means you need to have a measured conversation with them about internet safety, backed up with parental controls. Consider the following:
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Mobile security best practices
Finally, sheltering at home has limits, particularly for restless kids. When they go to the store or out to the park, facemasks notwithstanding, they’re likely going to use their mobile devices, just as they’ll continue to do at home. Of course, you’re not exempt either from mobile threats. Ensure mobile security by
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When it comes to protecting the home from security and privacy threats during lockdown, leave no stone unturned. Cyber-criminals will always look for the weak link in the chain and focus their efforts there. Network security is important, but it doesn’t replace the need for protection on each individual device. You’ll need to cover your router, network, smart devices, and all endpoints (PCs, laptops, mobiles and other devices). Here’s how Trend Micro can help:
Trend Micro Home Network Security
Trend Micro Home Network Security provides industry-leading protection against any threats to internet-connected devices in the home. The solution
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Trend Micro Security (PC and Mac)
Trend Micro Security, available in various editions (led by Trend Micro Maximum Security), is Trend’s flagship endpoint security product for consumers. Available for both PCs and Macs, it features AI learning to stop advanced threats. Among a wide range of protections, it includes:
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Trend Micro Mobile Security:
Trend Micro Mobile Security provides endpoint security for all your mobile devices, whether Android or iOS-based.
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Additional Trend Micro Tools:
Network and endpoint security should be supplemented with tools that accomplish specific tasks, such as protecting your internet connections, your passwords, and your identity data. Trend Micro provides
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Maintaining your family’s security and privacy on all their devices during the coronavirus lockdown above all means changing your mindset, to take into account the mix of work and play in the household during the “new normal.” Use these tips and tools during lockdown and you’ll be well on your way to ensuring you and your family’s safety from malicious viruses—both digital and natural.
The post Top Tips For Home Cybersecurity And Privacy In A Coronavirus-Impacted World (Part 2) appeared first on .
We’re all getting a little more worldly wise to the dangers that lurk around every corner of our digital lives. We know that the flipside of being able to shop, chat, bank and share online at the push of a button is the risk of data theft, ransomware and identity fraud. That’s why we protect our families’ PCs and mobile devices with security solutions from proven providers like Trend Micro, and take extra care each time we fire up the internet.
But what about the firms that we entrust to handle our data securely?
Unfortunately, many of these organizations still aren’t doing enough to protect our personal and financial information. It could be data we enter online to pay for an item or open an account. Or it could be payment card details that we’ve used at a local outlet which are subsequently stored online. These companies are big targets for the bad guys, who only have to get lucky once to crack open an Aladdin’s Cave of lucrative customer data.
What does this mean? That data breaches are the new normal. Last year in the US there were a reported 1,473 of these incidents, exposing nearly 165 million customer records. The latest affected customers of convenience store and gas station chain Wawa — and it could be one of the biggest ever, affecting 30 million cards.
Let’s take a look at what happened, and what consumers can do to steal a march on the bad guys.
What happened this time?
Wawa first notified its customers of a payment card breach in December 2019. But although the firm discovered malware on its payment processing servers that month, it had actually been sitting there since March, potentially siphoning card data silently from every single Wawa location. That’s more than 850 stores, across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Washington DC.
The company itself has so far declined to put a number on how many customers have been affected. However, while cardholders were still wondering whether they’ve been impacted or not, something else happened. At the end of January, a hacker began to upload the stolen cards to a notorious dark web marketplace, known as Joker’s Stash.
They are claiming to have 30 million stolen cards in total, which if accurate could make this one of the biggest card breaches of its kind, placing it alongside other incidents at Home Depot (2014) and Target (2013).
How does it affect me?
Once the data goes on sale on a dark web market like this, it is usually bought by scammers, who use it in follow-on identity fraud attacks. In this case, the stolen data includes debit and credit card numbers, expiration dates and cardholder names, but not PINs or CVV records. That means they can’t be used at ATMs and fraudsters will find it hard to use the cards online, as most merchants require the CVV number.
However, if the cards are of the old magstripe type, they could be cloned for use in face-to-face transactions.
Although Wawa said it has informed the relevant card issuers and brands, the cardholders themselves must monitor their cards for unusual transactions and then report to their issuer “in a timely manner” if they want to be reimbursed for any fraudulent usage. This can be a distressing, time-consuming process.
What should I do next?
This is by no means the first and it won’t be the last breach of this kind. In the past, data stolen from customers of Hilton Hotels, supermarket chain Hy-Vee, retailer Bebe Stores, and restaurant chains including Krystal, Moe’s and Schlotzsky’s has turned up for sale on Joker’s Stash. It can be dispiriting for consumers to see their personal data time and again compromised in this way by cyber-criminals.
Too often in the aftermath of such incidents, the customers themselves are left in the dark. There is no information on whether they’ve definitively had their personal or card data stolen, just an ominous sense that something bad may be about to happen. If the company itself doesn’t even know how many cards have been affected, how can you act decisively?
Credit monitoring is often provided by breached firms, but this is a less-than-perfect solution. For one thing, such services only alert the user if a new line of credit is being opened in their name — not if a stolen card is being used. And second, they only raise the alarm after the incident, by which time the fraudsters may already have made a serious dent in your finances.
Monitoring your bank account for fraudulent transactions is arguably more useful in cases like the Wawa breach, but it’s still too reactive. Here’s a handy 2-step plan which could provide better results:
Step 1: Dark web monitoring works
To get more proactive, consumers need Dark Web monitoring. These tools typically scour dark web sites like Joker’s Stash to look for your personal information. The beauty of this approach is that it can raise the alarm after a breach has occurred, when the data is posted to the Dark Web, but before a fraudster has had time to monetize your stolen details. With this information, you can proactively request that your lender block a particular card and issue a new one.
This approach works for all personal data you may want to keep protected, including email addresses, driver’s license, passport numbers and passwords.
Step 2: Password protection
Once you’ve determined that your data has been part of a breach and is being sold on the dark web, one of the most important things you can do is to change your passwords to any stolen accounts, in order to minimize the potential damage that fraudsters can do.
This is where password manager tools can come in very handy. They allow users to store and recall long, strong and unique credentials for each of the websites and apps they use. This means that if one password is compromised, as in a breach scenario, your other accounts will remain secure. It also makes passwords harder for hackers to guess, which they may try to do with automated tools if they already have your email address.
Following a breach, it also makes sense to look out for follow-on phishing attacks which may try to trick you into handing over more information to the fraudsters. Here are a few tips:
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How Trend Micro can help
Fortunately, Trend Micro has several products that can help you, as a potential or actual victim of a data breach, to proactively mitigate the fallout from a serious security incident, or to foil the fraudsters:
Trend Micro ID Security: checks if your personal information has been uploaded to Dark Web sites by hackers. This highly secure service, available in apps for Android and iOS mobile devices, uses data hashing and an encrypted connected to keep your details safe, alerting when it has found a match on the Dark Web so you can take action. Use it to protect your emails, credit card numbers, passwords, bank accounts, passport details and more.
Trend Micro Password Manager: provides a secure place to store, manage and update your passwords. It remembers your log-ins, so you can create secure and unique credentials for each website/app you need to sign-in to. This means if one site is breached, hackers will not be able to use that password to open your other accounts. Password Manager is available for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, synchronizing your passwords across all four platforms.
Trend Micro Fraud Buster: is a free online service you can use to check suspicious emails It uses advanced machine learning technology to identify scam emails that don’t contain malicious URLs or attachments but still pose a risk to the user, because the email (which may be extortionist) reflects the fact that the fraudster probably got your email address from the Dark Web in the first place. Users can then decide to report the scam, get more details, or proceed as before.
Fraud Buster is also now integrated into Trend Micro Security for Windows, protecting Gmail and Outlook webmail in Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. It’s also integrated in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, where it does the same for Gmail webmail in Safari, Chrome and Firefox on the Mac.
In the end, only you can guard your identity credentials with vigilance.
The post The Wawa Breach: 30 Million Reasons to Try Dark Web Monitoring appeared first on .
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