As I've said many times, never give out your password to anyone. We've heard about the phishing scams out there. They will tell you to go to the "company" website and fill out your info including password or respond to an email asking for your password. The best defense against that is to type in the URL yourself in the browser for that company and go from there. That way, you know you're going to the correct site. It's good to read the URL carefully. Something that looks like http://[domain name].com/youtube.com/ does NOT go to YouTube, but a fake site.
Administrators of password-protected sites can change your password for you. They have access to your account. They don't need your password or your security question answers sent them in email. What do you think they do when they reset your password if you've forgotten it? Depending on the software used, the password will either show up or it won't on the administrator's screen, with the ability to change it or disable/delete the account.
An email asking you to send back your username, password, security question answers, and other things is a definite phish. If the email says your account will be closed or there is legal action, most likely it is fake. Check with your ISP to confirm. So are the emails for lotteries, jackpots, and any kind of winnings programs. Federal law forbids collection of "fees" to receive your winnings. Read this from the NAD;
Scam Alert – Protect Yourself
Showing posts with label spyware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spyware. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Computers in the Trash
One thing that's troubled me in recent years is not how many computers are in the trash. It's what's on them that can get you in trouble. I'm not saying this just because I'm a network security student. I'm saying this because there are too many reports of identity theft out there. I work for a nonprofit as a volunteer computer refurbisher which gives the refurbished computers to their students. Fortunately, the hard drives in the computers are wiped before we reinstall the operating system and other software.
I come across around several computers a year in the trash piles and in every case, they have problems. The operating system isn't updated enough, they're infected with spyware, enough personal information for a case of identity theft, imprisonment if the wrong person finds info on there and reports it to law enforcement, or a combination of the four. The best thing to do is to not just repartition and format, which leaves some info on the drive for recovery, but to do a complete wipe. You can format the hard drive around 3-5 times, which scrambles enough of the data to prevent much recovery. Best thing to use is Darik's Boot and Nuke.
One computer had an immigrant's financial aid info for attending a local college plus his green card info. Another had a few home movies of a man and woman displaying rifles together, had password info to get into his airline reservations account, and the owner's resumes, to name a few.
Look up Department of Defense 5220.22-M. This tells something about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParetoLogic_Privacy_Controls
Sometimes even the government overdoes things. Someone who worked briefly on a military base said that hard drives were routinely shredded since they had secret info or similar on them. Industrial shredders are great for this. Ever seen one shred a car, boat, or other stuff? Do a search on YouTube.
Identity theft can be harder for deaf people to deal with due to the amount of time on the phone and so on. There's been stories of those who have been through it at least twice as well as from someone who had to be reissued a new SSN. What are your experiences in this?
I come across around several computers a year in the trash piles and in every case, they have problems. The operating system isn't updated enough, they're infected with spyware, enough personal information for a case of identity theft, imprisonment if the wrong person finds info on there and reports it to law enforcement, or a combination of the four. The best thing to do is to not just repartition and format, which leaves some info on the drive for recovery, but to do a complete wipe. You can format the hard drive around 3-5 times, which scrambles enough of the data to prevent much recovery. Best thing to use is Darik's Boot and Nuke.
One computer had an immigrant's financial aid info for attending a local college plus his green card info. Another had a few home movies of a man and woman displaying rifles together, had password info to get into his airline reservations account, and the owner's resumes, to name a few.
Look up Department of Defense 5220.22-M. This tells something about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ParetoLogic_Privacy_Controls
Sometimes even the government overdoes things. Someone who worked briefly on a military base said that hard drives were routinely shredded since they had secret info or similar on them. Industrial shredders are great for this. Ever seen one shred a car, boat, or other stuff? Do a search on YouTube.
Identity theft can be harder for deaf people to deal with due to the amount of time on the phone and so on. There's been stories of those who have been through it at least twice as well as from someone who had to be reissued a new SSN. What are your experiences in this?
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